Hundred Moments
by esama
Summary: "Your second other self. I suppose it couldn't have happened to anyone else." Time/reality travel, eventual slash with bdsm elements, some angst, spoilers and so on.
1. Part 1

Warnings; timetravel au. Eventual slash and BDSM stuff. Some oocness and maybe spoilers. Post Battle City. Bit of angst.

**Hundred moments  
****Part 1**

The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle isn't in control when the phone call comes, but he learns of it almost exactly the same time as Yugi does, his host's emotions and thoughts echoing themselves so powerfully through their joined hearts that anything else would've been impossible. As he rouses from his momentary rest in the maze of the Puzzle, the words of outside world echo along the endless corridors.

"But that's not possible!" his partner's voice objects confusedly. "I'm _here_, and not hurt."

"I can see that, Yugi," Grandfather Sugoroku's voice answers, amused and puzzled. "It might be that it's some sort of mistake or misunderstanding. Have you lost your wallet or maybe some card that might have your identification in it?"

"No, I don't think so?" Yugi answers. "No, I'm sure I haven't, I visited a store just yesterday and it was all there – and I was re-organising the receipts later on when I came home and I know I would've noticed if something was missing."

"Hm. Well, there are still some other possibilities. The worse of which is that someone is out there, pretending to be you," Grandfather Sugoroku says worriedly, and the spirit perks up at that, now concerned. Someone was pretending to be his partner?

"What should we do?" Yugi asks quietly.

"Learn more about this, obviously. I'll go to the hospital, see what this is about – figure out who this person is," Sugoroku says, and the spirit can sense him moving away from his partner. "You stay here and –

Yugi's soul raises like a wave in objection and for a moment the Spirit of the Puzzle is overwhelmed with the urge to take over, like he does every time Yugi is so powerfully affected – but this isn't the time. Outside, Yugi words his objections.

"No way! If there's someone out there pretending to be me, then I want to know more too! And besides, won't you need me there to prove people right? I mean, if this person is pretending to be me, and if the authorities believe him…"

Sugoroku doesn't answer immediately and in the pause the spirit shakes the urge to take control and instead pushes himself forward, quickly breaking the thin veneer of space between him and Yugi and the outside world, taking the intangible form of a ghost only Yugi can see.

_'My other self,'_ Yugi thinks at the sight of him.

The spirit nods, looking between his scowling partner and Grandfather Sugoroku who is eying Yugi thoughtfully. "I heard you talking. What is going on?"

_'Grandpa got a call from the hospital – they said that_ I've _been admitted to the hospital after some people found_ me _unconscious on a street or something,'_ Yugi answers.

The spirit frowns and looks at Sugoroku while Yugi speaks. "I have to right to see whoever it is!"

"Yes," the old man says after a moment. "I suppose you do. Well then, go and get your jacket – and your wallet, in case we need to show your ID or something – and we'll head to the hospital."

"Alright!" Yugi says, nodding and then dashing up the stairs, the spirit following closely after him with a worried frown. A person, whom people thought was Yugi? That was worrying enough, but the fact that the hospital staff had called Sugoroku. Where had they gotten the phone number? From the hospital records – or had the impostor been carrying it, somehow?

"Take the deck too," the spirit advices his partner when Yugi gets his wallet from the desk. He doubts that they'd need it, in a hospital, but one never knew – and his magic works best with Duel Monsters these days. Better to be overly cautious now, than sorry later.

"Yes, my other self," Yugi answers, taking the deck holster from where it hangs, hooked on the bedpost. With swift, adjusted motions he buckles it on before reaching for his deck and slotting it into the holster. "The disk too? They might not let me carry it into the hospital, though; hologram technology sometimes interferes with other machinery after all, and I've heard they've banned most of Kaiba Corp. gaming systems from places like hospitals."

The spirit hesitates and then shakes his head. He can use the deck without the disk, the disk merely makes it easier. "It is fine," he assures. "Hurry now, before Grandfather Sugoroku leaves without you."

"Right," Yugi nods and after checking that he had his wallet securely in his pocket, he grabs his jacket and then hurries downstairs where Sugoroku is already waiting for them. Together, with the air saturated with tension and worry, they lock the Game Store and head out, the spirit following silent and unseen after his partner, already mentally considering the deck and the many ways he can use it to defend his partner.

The drive to the hospital is too long and too short in the same time, and by the time they make it there the spirit has only come up with ways to counteract only about ten potentially threatening scenarios. There's so little – infuriatingly little – he can do to defend Yugi from things that are _official_ and part of the _system_. The world around them is stranger and more interconnected than the spirit had originally realised and now things like _legal documents_ and _identification_ and _laws_ and so on loom over his head.

Not to mention about things like _law suits_ and _criminal justice_ – the main reasons as to why he now days duels those who hurt Yugi with holograms, rather than magic.

But this isn't the time. Yugi and Grandfather Sugoroku are now entering the hospital building and the spirit follows, hovering as close to Yugi as he can without being overly smothering. Yugi says nothing to it, though – too concentrated to what might be coming.

Sugoroku asks about the patient that calls himself _Mutou Yugi_ and is pointed to certain ward, certain room and told to talk to the attending doctor – because apparently, _Mutou Yugi_ has yet to regain his consciousness.

They find the doctor easily enough – the man is in the hall just outside the room where the impostor is, talking to a nurse. "Doctor Tanaka?" Grandfather Sugoroku asks, bowing. "I'm Mutou Sugoroku, you called me about my grandson?"

"Yes, of course," the doctor says and bows in return. "Firstly, let me tell you that your grandson is completely stable and in no danger, and aside from the bump that caused him to lose consciousness, there is nothing physically wrong with him – we're expecting him to regain consciousness any moment now."

"Well… that's good to hear," Sugoroku says while Yugi fidgets and the spirit glares at the closed door, worried. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"We don't know," the doctor says with a frown. "We know that he hit his head somehow, but it's hard to say now. He wasn't attacked as far as we can tell, and he still seems to have all his personal effects, and his wallet still seems to have all his cards and money…"

The spirit listens to the speculation with half an ear, turning his gaze from the door to his partner who fidgets a bit longer, squeezing the hem of his jacket in his hands before finally bursting out, "Can we see him?"

"Yes, of course," the doctor says, looking at him with surprise. "Your… brother? He's just in that room over there, you can go ahead and go in so as long as you don't jostle him. Though there's no sign of concussion, he might experience some nausea and will most definitely have quite a head ache when he wakes up and –"

But Yugi isn't listening and neither is the spirit, as he hurriedly follows Yugi to the door, and then into the room. There are three beds in the room, two of which are empty – and in the third one lies a unconscious man, maybe in his mid twenties who…

"Oh my god," Yugi murmurs while the spirit stares, dumbfounded, at the man – at the hair, at the skin, the facial features. The man's been dressed in hospital pyjamas, but the spirit can see a set of clothing sitting on the table beside him, most of them leather, with several silver stuffed belts rolled up on top of them.

"Oh… my god," Yugi says again, taking a cautious step forward and then few more, until he comes to the foot of the bed – the spirit following him every step of the way. "He looks just like –"

"But how?" the spirit asks, shifting closer than Yugi dares to, to look at the unconscious man's face closer. The hair is unmistakeable – the exact shape and cut of Yugi's hair, right down to the errand lock in the middle, to the spikes sticking up in the back.

"What the -" the spirit hears Grandfather Sugoroku gasp somewhere behind him, and then the old man has came forward, also to have a closer look while the spirit cautiously reaches out to touch the unconscious man's shoulder.

His hand rests on the man's flesh solidly – it feels firm and warm through the pyjama top. "Partner," he says, turning to look at Yugi. "I can feel him." The effect of the words is as profound on Yugi as the touch is on the spirit – the unease and shock is instant, as is the worry and wonder.

"He… you said he had all his effects – where?" Grandfather Sugoroku asks, turning to the doctor.

"On the table – his wallet and phone are in the drawer," Doctor Tanaka says, and Sugoroku quickly opens it to retrieve a familiar black leather wallet. Yugi and the spirit of the Puzzle both shift closer to see as Sugoroku opens the wallet and quickly goes through the cards there.

The only identification in the wallet is a sort of business card, completely pitch black with golden text – with the name Mutou Yugi on the top, and email address and phone number below it. There is another card, though, with emergency contact numbers in it – the topmost of which is titled as _Maternal Grandfather and Medical Proxy, Mutou Sugoroku,_ followed by a phone number and address.

The spirit frowns with worry while Yugi and Grandfather Sugoroku exchange looks.

"Does everything look to be there?" the doctor asks.

"Yes… yes it seems to be," Sugoroku says, closing the wallet and turning to the doctor. "You said that he's expected to wake up any moment?"

"Yes. There is very little wrong with him physically and he's been given some stimulants to ease his way back to consciousness," the doctor said. "Once he wakes up we'll know more."

"Alright. Thank you. Can we stay here and wait until he –"

"Yes, of course. Just make sure to inform someone once he wakes up – there is a button over there, just press it and a nurse will come," the doctor says. "I have other patients to attend to now, so please excuse me…"

The spirit watches after the doctor until the door closes after the man and then turns to look at Yugi, who is staring at his unconscious, elder counterpart.

"Is this possible? How is this possible?" Yugi asks, turning to Sugoroku and then to the spirit. "Do you know, my other self?"

The spirit shakes his head, frowning. "It is not possible with shadow powers, not as far as I can tell," He says, folding his arms. The man on the bed looks human, feels human – and had he been anything else, the hospital staff surely would have noticed. So he is not a magical duplicate of some sort.

"Hmm," Sugoroku hums and then steps closer, to take the unconscious mans hand, where a needle has been sunk into the skin of the back – IV line, the spirit recalls vaguely from Yugi's knowledge. As they watch, Sugoroku turns the mans hand until he can see the man's fingers – dotted and peppered with shiny white scars, with the fingertips of middle and forefingers and thumb completely burned off.

Gasping, Yugi and the spirit both lift their hands and look at them. They have the exact same scars – Yugi's scars from the second time he had completed the Puzzle, while inside a burning building. The Puzzle and the chain it hands on had both been so hot that Yugi's finger prints had been burned off.

While Sugoroku examines the man's hand, Yugi puts his own beside it and compares the scars. They are an exact match. "Can't be," Yugi whispers. "That's not possible. Is it?"

"Not with magic it isn't," the spirit says, leaning in,

"Maybe not, not as far as we know. But you seem to match perfectly," Sugoroku says, deaf to the spirit's words as he prods at the burned fingertips. "These are all very real, and it would be nearly impossible to copy these scars. A person would need a cast of your hand to do it, Yugi, and even then the process of burning exact same scars on their own hand, line for line…"

"But…" Yugi starts and then frowns, glancing at the spirit who looks back with some unease. "Well, it's not the strangest thing that has ever happened to me, but… _how_? My other self says that it couldn't be done with magic," he says, turning to Sugoroku. "And there's nothing else that could do it, right?"

"Well, not right now there isn't. But…" the old man lowers the unconscious man's hand and folds his arms. "I'd say he's about twenty five – maybe older, it's always hard to tell with you. Technology is advancing fast these days. Eight or more years from now… well, who knows what sort of things people might have."

Technology? Technology that could do things magic couldn't? The spirit frowns and then has to admit how very possible it is. Kaiba is already doing things only magic had been able to do for thousands of years – and it had taken him only few months create hologram technology out of _nothing_. Eight years from now… "The phone," the spirit suddenly remembers. "Didn't the doctor say that he had a phone?"

Yugi blinks and then quickly moves to the table, opening the drawer again and pulling out a… rather strange looking device. It doesn't _look_ like a phone, though neither Yugi nor the spirit has much experience. It looks more like a small tablet, actually, completely black, taken over by a screen from one side and on the other…

"I think this is h-pad," Yugi murmurs, running his finger over the white, faintly glimmering line that ran lengthwise along the mobile phone.

"A what?" Sugoroku asks, leaning in to look.

"H-pad. It's part of the Duel Disks, and all the other Kaiba Corp. tech that uses holographic projections. H-pad is basically the part that projects the hologram – it's this thing that makes it possible," Yugi explains, poking the white line. "I've never seen one this small."

They spend a moment examining the phone, coming to the conclusion that not only does it have the ability to project holograms, but it also has _two_ cameras in it, one on the back and other on the front. And though none of them is that well versed with mobile phones, they can all see how very advanced this model is – beyond anything any of them has seen before, certainly.

"So… he could be, uh… my future self?" Yugi asks uncertainly, looking between the man on the bed and the spirit, who looks back uneasily, not sure what to say to that. It seems likely and yet so very unlike. And yet, the proof is there, right in front of their eyes – undisputable.

Grandfather Sugoroku considers it for a moment and the snorts. "Your _second_ other self," he says and shakes his head. "I suppose it couldn't have happened to anyone else."

While Yugi pouts, the spirit of the Puzzle looks towards the unconscious man, frowning at him and wondering. Yugi really does seem to be the one to whom all the strange things always happens – and in this scenario, he's experiencing the _strange_ thing twice over, as his own younger and older self. But why? How?

The spirit glances away from the man, towards the bedside table. The belts are there – one of which he now recognises, it's the deck holster – but there is something missing.

Where is this future-Yugi's Millennium Puzzle?

x

As they settle down to wait, Yugi drags one of the chairs from near the window so that his other self can sit down as well – his _spiritual_ other self, at any rate. His, uh… future self is still lying on the bed, still unconscious – still strange and foreign and disturbingly familiar.

"Will I grow up to look like him?" Yugi wonders out loud, tilting his head a bit and examining the man's face. It's familiar, yes, but a bit different too. The structure is the same, but… the man's lost the roundness his face still has – lost the accursed baby fat Yugi himself can't seem to get rid of. It makes the man's cheekbones look higher, his face seem longer, leaner – and not all that bad, if Yugi says so himself.

"If so, then you'll grow up taller than I thought," Sugoroku says, following the bed with his eyes. "I'd say he's about hundred and seventy centimetres long. You'll have some growth spurts ahead of you."

"Aww, still not tall as Kaiba," Yugi mutters, but with secret elation. Hundred and seventy! That that's… so, so much better than he had feared. He hadn't seem to be growing at _all_ in the last couple of years while all his friends had shot up like freaking trees, leaving him as not just the shorty of the group, but looking like someone from _kindergarten _when standing beside them.

A mental chuckle reaches him and Yugi shoots his _spiritual_ other self a glare. _'Shut it.'_

"I didn't say anything, partner," the spirit of the Puzzle says with a little innocent smile.

_'You were thinking about it,'_ Yugi mutters mentally, narrowing his eyes as the spirit just chuckles again before sighing and turning his eyes to the unconscious man. His future self – maybe. It might still be all just a trick, somehow.

But what if it is? What if the man before him really is what he himself will be like, eight years into the future? What would he do? Or, scratch that, what would _the man_ do? How is he here anyway, why? Is there a reason or was it some sort of accident or… what? Is the man there to stay? And if so…

"If he is me… from the future," Yugi says slowly, glancing first at his see through other self and then at his grandpa. "Do you think he can go back? And… what if he can't?"

"Hm…" Sugoroku hums, leaning back on his chair. "Well, I don't think it's any use to start worrying about it just yet, not before we hear his side of things. But if he is you from the future, and if is here to stay then… then we might have a problem. Not with him, as much as with his _identity._"

Yugi frowns, nodding. _He_ is Yugi, he has the birth records of Yugi. What does this man have? Just a business card and nothing much else. Of course, it isn't like Yugi can really begrudge the man his real identity – if the man is him, that is – but still. It isn't like they both can go about as Mutou Yugi, especially not when Mutou Yugi is _seventeen_ and not in his mid twenties.

"Kaiba probably could work it out," the spirit of the Puzzle interjects idly and raises his eyebrows. "I admit I don't know how the details of things like these work, exactly, but if there is someone who could cover up the existence of an individual – or justify it, when it's not supposed to be there – then that person is Kaiba."

Yugi considers it and then nods before telling the same to his grandpa who frowns in answer. "Though, I'm not sure if Kaiba _would_," Yugi adds. "He's not the sort of person to help others."

"I could duel him for it – he'd never turn it down," the spirit says with a smirk and seems like he's about to continue, when a sound from the bed alerts them.

The man grunts, opens his eyes and winces before covering his eyes with his IV adorned hand. "Goddamnit," he says, making Yugi's eyes widen. "If someone slipped me something again, heads are going to roll…"

Yugi shares a wild eyed look with his spiritual other self who answers it with a frown – because that can't be him, he'd never say something like that, right? And yet the voice. It's deeper than his own, rougher – and yet so much like his. While Yugi and the spirit turn to look at the man uneasily, Sugoroku clears his throat.

"Are people in habit of slipping you things, then?" he asks almost calmly – almost.

"Is that a joke, Grandpa?" the man on the bed asks and snorts before rubbing his eyes and lowering his hand and blinking at the ceiling for a moment before lowering his eyes. "So, what happened this –" he chokes mid sentence, sitting up hurriedly with his eyes widening as he looks at Yugi.

Yugi looks back, uneasy and fascinated all at the same time. His future self's eyes are and aren't like his own – the colour is the same, as it the shape, though his older self's eyes have narrowed somewhat when compared to his own still childishly large ones. The look of them, though, is the most interesting thing. It's horrified, hopeful, and almost mortified all at the same.

"So, uh, am I dead?" the man asks, his voice a bit higher pitched now – closer to Yugi's own voice. His eyes flicker, from Yugi to Sugoroku and then to the third seat, where they stop, staring – staring right at the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. "Ooh, _god_," the man whispers, shifting in the bed and looking a bit like he'd like to make a run for it.

"You can see me?" the spirit asks, fascinated, and the man just stares at him.

"You're not dead, young man," Sugoroku says thoughtfully, looking between the man and the seat – which to him looks like it is empty. "Though I suspect you're not where you expect to be."

"Well, I always knew there was a chance I'd end up in hell," the man says, his face pale, stricken. "Didn't think it'd be this bad." He swallows thickly.

"This isn't hell," Yugi says quickly, looking at his two other selves – and that would _definitely_ take some time to get adjusted to. The spirit is scowling now, his arms folded and legs crossed, _defensive_ while the man on the bed keeps looking at him like he's never seen anything so horrible. "This is Domino, and the year is ninety nine. You're in the _past_. …probably," he trails away, a bit unsure.

The man hesitates, almost forcibly dragging his eyes away from the spirit to Yugi where they pause, to take in Yugi's clothing, his face – the Millennium Puzzle. Then the man looks away, to Sugoroku. "The… past?" he asks unsurely.

"Well, if you are Mutou Yugi – and you seem to be – then that is the only thing that would explain this," Sugoroku says with a considering look, glancing between the man and Yugi and the empty chair. "What year is it for you?"

"Uh. Two thousand a ten?" the man says awkwardly and then, after a moment of thought, narrows his eyes at Yugi. "You're supposed to be me? Past me, even. Prove it," he says, with authority that startles Yugi a bit – before he moves to comply, holding out his hands, showing the scars. The man reaches for his hand and takes Yugi's fingers in his own, bigger, stronger ones_. _There is a moment of quiet as the man examines the scars just as Sugoroku had examined _his_.

It doesn't seem to satisfy the man entirely – his eyes are now conflicted with disbelief and suspicion as he looks up to Yugi's face. "First year in high school, first day," he says. "Which did you chose, second from left or third forward?"

Yugi blinks, at first having no idea what the man is talking about. Then he remembers – the first day, when he had only known one person in class – Anzu, who had been sitting in the other end of the class room. Yugi remembers – somewhat vaguely, but he remembers – looking at the other students. He also recalls what he had been thinking.

Yugi flushes bright red. "S-second from left?" he answers, mortified at the fact that he actually still remembers it, and the man releases his hands like they burned.

"You believe now?" Sugoroku asks, looking curiously between Yugi and the man who _is_ his future self – only way he could know what he knew, even the Spirit of the Puzzle didn't know _that_.

"Well, it's not the weirdest thing ever to happen to me," the man says, glancing uneasily towards the spirit of the Puzzle and then quickly away again.

_'Partner?'_ the spirit asks, looking at Yugi. _'What did he mean? What was second from left?'_

_'Nothing, my other self, never mind,'_ Yugi says quickly, shaking his head and then looking at his future self. "So, uh… Do you know how you – I mean, we don't know anything," he says, glancing at Sugoroku. "We just found out - they got Grandpa's phone number from a card in your wallet and thought you were me."

"They?" the man asks, confused.

"The hospital staff," Sugoroku says and explains what they know – which is very little. "You have a bit of a bump on your head," the old man adds, pointing at the side of his own forehead, making the man lift his hand and wince at the touch.

"So, do you know?" Yugi asks his future self.

The man thinks about it for a moment, frowning at his own knees and then shaking his head before looking away, noting his clothing on the table. "Is my phone here?" he asks then. "It might have something," he explains and Sugoroku hands it over.

"Should you be using it, though? This is a hospital after all?" Sugoroku asks.

The man glances up and flashes a brief smile. "Oh, who's gonna know?" he says and as they watch, the man activates the mobile phone – somehow, Yugi can't see how he does it – making the screen lit up.

Frowning, Yugi leans in for a closer look; the screen his _huge_ and all in colour, looking more like computer screen or a television than a phone – and it responds to _touch_! The future-him flicks it with his thumb, making things shift and then there are pictures flashing through the screen, looking like they are from some sort of event.

"Right," the man murmurs with a frown. "The expo…" he lowers the phone a bit, frowning at nothing. "The science expo, Kaiba invited me there to see his new system and… there was exhibition he though I'd like to see…" scowling harder, trying to remember, he leans his head back and turns to look at the ceiling lights instead. "I can't remember, what…"

"A science expo?" Sugoroku asks, exchanging looks with Yugi. "Anything to do with, I don't know, time travel maybe?"

"There was some secret project or another – there always is – but…" the future-Yugi shrugs, lowering his eyes and the phone. "Do you know where, exactly, was I found?" he asks then, looking at Sugoroku.

"I'm not sure. The doctor probably knows – we were supposed to call someone to see you once you woke up anyway," Sugoroku says, glancing towards the call button. "Ah, should we call them? You should probably figure out what to say, considering everything," he adds, motioning at Yugi. "They think you're Yugi, but…"

Yugi smiles awkwardly as his future self looks at him. "Well, I'll figure something out, bluff my way through it," he says, turning to Sugoroku again. "What the day is it today, though? And where exactly am I?"

Frowning a bit, Yugi turns to look at his incorporeal other self while his grandpa answers his future self's questions. The spirit of the Puzzle is now glowering at the future-Yugi, like trying to see into his head – or maybe trying to pore a hole through it. _'My other self?'_ Yugi thinks to him tentatively, sensing the spirit's unease and confusion – and something that feels like odd, impotent fury. _'My other self, what's wrong?'_

_'Nothing,'_ the spirit almost growls and stands up while Sugoroku presses the button to call a nurse. _'We should probably leave the room; the doctor will probably want to examine him alone.'_

"But -" Yugi says out loud, glancing at his future self – who is not looking at his way at all – and his other self. Then, awkward, he stands up to follow the spirit who is already making his way to the door. "I'll be right outside, grandpa," Yugi says and quickly catches up with the spirit.

x

Had the spirit of the Puzzle had a physical presence, he would've kicked the door out of his way and maybe slammed it shut after him.

_Why_ was the future-Yugi looking at him like that? Like it _hurt_? Like he had done something so horrible that the very sight of him was unbearable? The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle had endured a lot of strange and horrible stares – other Bakura's look of greed, other Marik's sheer insanity. But no one had ever looked at him like the very act of seeing him was…

The future-Yugi – his own partner's future self – had taken one look at the past and thought he was in _hell_. And it hadn't been a joke either, the man had seriously thought that he had died and ended up in hell. Just at the sight of him!

_'My other self?'_ Yugi asks silently, cautiously stepping closer to him but not quite looking at him – not wanting to look strange in public. _'What is wrong?'_

The spirit smothers the urge to growl. The way the older Yugi looked at him shouldn't bother him – it wouldn't, if it had been anyone else. But it was _Yugi_. A different Yugi, but a Yugi nonetheless. And to have Yugi, his partner, his light, the one he would and _will_ do anything to protect, look at him like he is a nightmare…

_'My other self?'_ Yugi asks again and the spirit looks away before sighing.

_'It's… it's nothing, partner,'_ he thinks back and leans against the wall across the door to the future-Yugi's room. _'I'm sorry if I worried you. It's just… it's a little startling, this situation.'_

_'Tell me about it,'_ Yugi sighs, stepping beside him to lean against the wall too. _'He's a… bit strange, though, isn't he? I'm not like that, am I?'_

The spirit thinks about it for a moment. No, Yugi isn't. The man in that room is harder, older, and more worn somehow. From what little the spirit had seen, it is obvious that the future-Yugi was more suspicious than his partner is – Yugi trusts anyone and everything so easily, but the future-Yugi had first expected the worse and then suspected trickery. Very different.

The man had said that the year he came from was two thousand and ten. So he is actually ten, eleven years older than Yugi. Twenty-seven, hm? Is ten years enough to change a person so much? Maybe. If something bad happened to them in those ten years.

The spirit scowls and looks at the floor – the fact that the future-Yugi has no Puzzle still bothering him. What happened to it? What happened to the other… him? Where is the other spirit? Had the future-Yugi…

Swallowing, the spirit glances at his own partner, who is eying the door in silent thought. One of his best and worst kept fears is that Yugi would discard the Puzzle, break it and leave it behind. It would be within Yugi's right – and the spirit knows that many other people would've done it at the first sign of the sort of possession Yugi is enduring with him. Yugi can do it any time he wants to, just break the Puzzle and thus be freed from the soul infesting it – infesting him.

But Yugi wouldn't because Yugi is kind and because he knows that the spirit only wants his best. And yet… and yet the future-Yugi doesn't have the Puzzle.

What had happened? Why had future-Yugi left the Puzzle behind? And what had the other spirit done to make the future-Yugi look at him like he is something _horrible_?

As he thinks, the doctor comes and heads into the room and soon after Grandfather Sugoroku comes out. "The doctor's just going to examine him quickly," the old man says to Yugi. "Ask him few questions to make sure he's all there and so on. I think he can handle it – he's not exactly a dummy."

"Yeah," Yugi murmurs, still looking at the door. "What will we do, grandpa?" he asks then. "With him, with… with everything?"

"I don't know yet. Let's just wait and see for now – hopefully they won't want to keep him in long observation and we can all leave and figure this out in peace, somehow," Sugoroku answers. "Science expo though. That's worrying."

The spirit of the Puzzle lifts his head. "Worrying?" he asks out loud, looking at Yugi. "How so?"

_'Well, if whatever happened to him happened at a science expo, then it was probably some technological gadget that sent him back,'_ Yugi answers silently, glancing at him. _'And if what send him here is back_ there, _then… how can he go back?'_

The spirit frowns at that. It was a good point.

"We have another a bit more immediate problem though," Sugoroku murmurs. "Paperwork. If they try and check his medical history, they'll probably come up with yours. Unless they already have."

"Oh," Yugi murmurs, frowning. "Yeah, that is a… damn," he murmurs, biting his lip.

_'Partner?'_ the spirit asks, worried.

_'Well, they have in their hands a grown man with the medical records of a seven teen year old,'_ Yugi explains. _'Anyone would be curious. And if they find out that there is _two me's _here, one of them ten years older than he's supposed to…'_

The spirit shakes his head. He doesn't really get the danger in that, but Yugi sounds worried. There's little the spirit can do about things like _paperwork_. But he can do something to the people who make the paperwork.

"Do you want me to…?" he motions towards the door. "I won't need to play a Shadow Game," he adds quickly, when Yugi looks at him with worry. As much as it bothers the spirit, he has learned from Pegasus, from Bakura, from Marik and Ishizu – there are many ways to activate shadow powers and often times you don't even need an opponent in a game to do it. "No one will be hurt," he promises.

It doesn't seem to relieve Yugi entirely, though his partner does relax a bit. _'What will you do?'_ Yugi asks.

"Just make the doctor not think things too hard. Later he'll just assume that he treated you and not a grown man," the spirit says. "It's barely a spell."

_'Well… alright, so as long as it won't hurt anyone,'_ Yugi says, still anxious but willing to trust him. _'Be careful.'_

"Always," the spirit says and detaches him from the wall before walking to the door – and then through it. Inside the doctor is quizzing the future-Yugi about the things he knows – the date, the names of the emperor and the prime minister and so on. Judging by how the doctor is frowning and how uneasy future-Yugi looks, there have been other questions – harder ones for the time traveller to answer.

The spirit shifts forward and next to the doctor – making the future-Yugi jerk a bit where he sits, his eyes widening at the sight of the spirit. While his partner's elder self watches, the spirit reaches for the ghostly replica of Yugi's deck holster, opening the clasp and running a thumb nail gently over the cards until the one he wants jumps at his touch.

The _Brain Control_ is just as incorporeal as the rest of him, but it still retains enough power of the real card to work as he holds it out near the doctor's forehead and activates it. The way he uses the card isn't exactly how it's meant to be used, but with his will he forces the magic to work the way he needs it to, to take hold of the memories the man has concerning Yugi and change the _meaning_ of them.

Soon, once both Yugis would be out of the man's sight, the man's perception of him would change – what he'd remember would be the present-Yugi, not the future one.

With little bit of concentration, the spirit also makes sure that what he has triggered in the man's mind wouldn't just stay there, but would also translate to his actions. If there'd be any records already made of future-Yugi, Doctor Tanaka would change them to match his new perception.

With that done, the spirit withdraws the card and returns it to his deck.

"What did you do?" the future-Yugi asks while the doctor sways under the magic, for a moment too addled to really pay attention. The time traveller isn't looking at the spirit though – his eyes are on the bedspread.

"My partner and Grandfather Sugoroku were worried about you and my partner's medical records mixing badly," the spirit answers, glancing at him and then away just as quick. "I am making sure that there will be no… consequences."

"I see," the future-Yugi says shortly and then adds, "…thank you," so awkwardly that it almost sounds like he had to physically force the words out.

The spirit nods curtly and then hurries out of the room again, through the door and to his _real_ partner's side. Yugi gives him an odd look and quickly the spirit forces the grimace on his face, smiling instead. "It should be alright now," he says.

_'Alright,'_ Yugi nods, turning to Sugoroku and explaining quickly what the spirit had done. _'Thank you, my other self,'_ his partner adds.

The spirit nods and then turns to look at the door, wondering.

What the hell had he done to the man?

x

Behold, a thing.


	2. Part 2

Warnings; timetravel au. Eventual slash and BDSM stuff. Some oocness and maybe spoilers. Post Battle City. Bit of angst and weirdness

**Hundred Moments**  
**Part 2.**

It takes about half an hour, but eventually Doctor Tanaka comes out and tells them, with oddly vague inflections, that Yugi is free to go now. "It doesn't seem that his bout of unconsciousness has had any adverse effect on him," the man says. "There is no need to keep him in observation for longer. Just make sure that someone stays with him for the rest of the day and if something happens be sure to bring him straight back, but aside from that…"

While Grandpa thanks the man, Yugi glances at the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. _'What did you do?'_ he asks, though more in amusement than concern – the man hadn't seemed hurt, just… vague.

_'Nothing much. Just a bit of brain control, only enough to change his memories of these events,'_ the spirit shrugs, looking at the partially open door and hesitating. _'Partner, I think I shall return to the Puzzle. Let me know if something happens or if you need my aid.'_

_'Oh. Okay, if you're sure,'_ Yugi answers and the spirit smiles before fading out of sight. Touching the Millennium Puzzle with one hand, Yugi frowns a bit – though the spirit is trying to hide it, he can feel the unease and anxiety coming off him in waves.

The way Yugi's future self had acted had bothered the spirit more than he had let on – and he hadn't done all that good job hiding it. Frowning a bit, Yugi adjusts the chain of the Puzzle and swears to get to the bottom of the whole thing – why his future self looked at his other self like that. Not right now, though, there were bigger things to worry about… but later, if there'd be time.

Shaking his head, Yugi makes his way back to the room where he sees that his future self is now going through his clothing and items. The elder version of him glances up, looks around and relaxes just a bit – he even _smiles_ now that the spirit isn't there. "Seems like I'm free to go."

"Yeah, the doctor said you are. But that we're supposed to keep eye on you, just in case," Yugi says a bit awkwardly.

His elder version nods and then begins to unbutton the front of the pyjamas, taking it off and pulling on a black top – though but not before Yugi had seen just how _much_ his elder self had grown and developed, in comparison to him. He's still gawking at the man when his future self stands up to, without any hint of embarrassment, take off his pyjama bottoms.

"What?" the man asks, while shaking out the leather trousers and starting to shimmy his way into them.

"You're…" Yugi swallows. Ripped comes to mind. The loose pyjama shirt had hid it, but now the man's arms and large part of his neck is bare thanks to the low collar of his sleeveless shirt and – yeah. "Do you, uh… work you?" Yugi asks, a bit awed and obscurely aghast at the same time as he tries not to stare at the man's chest, obviously _well-formed_ even with the shirt in the way.

"Kind of," the future-him says, flashing him a smile and then taking out the first of his belts, easing into the loops of his trousers before securing it snugly – and then taking the extra belts, one of which holds his deck holster. By the time Grandpa enters, the man has two heavily studded belts loosely hanging around his hips, on top of the one snugly around his waist.

"So. I assume you're coming home with us?" Sugoroku asks while Yugi's future self starts donning variety of rather spiky bracelets and couple of rings.

"I guess so?" Yugi's future self says, tilting his head and – yeah, he's putting on earrings now, silver hoops with ankhs hanging from them. "If that is alright. I suppose I don't really have any other place to go, at this point."

Yugi just shakes his head, watching as the man sits down to pull on his black, stud and buckle adorned boots on. Yugi himself wears… somewhat strange clothing, though mostly that's the spirit's influence. The spirit had, in the beginning, gone for whatever Yugi had considered to be powerful and threatening. Black leather, belts, and so on.

Nowadays it's less about being threatening and more about what they simply had gotten used to – and what they are comfortable with. And yet, Yugi still occasionally feels a bit awkward wearing leather, not to mention about the jewellery, the belts…They might suit the spirit, when he's in control of Yugi's body. But Yugi just looks like a wanna-be with them on.

But his future self, he doesn't look awkward at all, not like a wanna-be, nothing like that. He looks… awesome. They don't look like clothing on him – they look like a _lifestyle_.

"If you're done gawking, I think I'm ready to go," his older self says, pushing his phone to one pocket and his wallet to another, all the while grinning at Yugi who blushes bright red at the words.

"Yes, quite," Sugoroku agrees amusedly and shakes his head. "Let's go then."

Embarrassed, Yugi falls in step with his grandfather, with his future self following closely after. Though his future self isn't as tall as some people Yugi knows, he still feels impossibly short beside him – and the fact that Jonouchi is probably a bit taller than Yugi's future self doesn't really help. God only knows how tall Jonouchi will be at twenty seven, the future-Yugi is probably still a shorty in his own time as far as that goes…

But still, beside him Yugi feels, for the umpteenth time, like a midget.

They make their way out of the hospital quickly and then head towards grandpa's car, the future version of Yugi looking around curiously as they do.

"Is the future Domino any different from the way it looks now?" Yugi asks, curious.

"Not much. There are couple more tall buildings here and there, but aside from that it's more or less the same," his elder self says thoughtfully. "You can't really tell the difference."

Yugi frowns a bit at that. "You… still think this is a trick?"

His elder self doesn't answer immediately, just glances towards Grandpa, who is unlocking the car. "No," he says. "I've seen better and worse tricks than this. This is… too unreal to be a trick," he says, and looks at Yugi. "If this was a game, the game master would've eased me into the trick, the game, probably in stages – in order to give me time to build a proper suspension of disbelief. This is too sudden, and if it was a illusion, well… no trickster would've opened by giving me every reason to be suspicious."

"So… you've been convinced by this because this is too obvious to be a trick?" Yugi asks thoughtfully.

"Yes. And also, the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle would've been thought to fake," his elder version adds under his breath and shakes his head. "You want to ride shot gun, or will I?" he asks then, motioning at the car.

"I'm fine sitting in the back," Yugi says and hurries into the car, wondering. _'My other self. Are you watching?'_ he asks, directing his thoughts inwards.

_'Yes. But I'm afraid I have no insights to offer,'_ The spirit answers and immediately withdraws again, to observe in silence.

"So. Ten years in the future, huh?" Sugoroku muses while guiding the car out of the parking lot. "I don't suppose you know any winning lottery numbers?"

"I'm afraid not," Yugi's future self answers with a chuckle, while worming out his phone and turning it on. "I don't really pay attention to games that rely solely on luck."

"Pity," Sugoroku murmurs, while the time traveller snaps pictures through the car window.

They reach the game shop with what feels like no time at all, and as Yugi gets out of the car he can't help but notice how strangely his elder self looks at the store front. "What is it?" he asks curiously, at the sight of the odd, half smile lingering on his future self's face.

"Ah, nothing. It's just…" he motions at the display window, which is mostly filled with Duel Monster's stuff. "A Duel Disk," the man says, sounding almost sarcastic – or maybe heartbroken, it's hard to tell.

"You don't… use them anymore?" Yugi asks, a bit worried now; a future without Duel Monsters…

"They're… sort of obsolete in my time," his future self says, turning to look at him before taking out his phone and, for some reason, snapping a picture of the store front. "People still play the game, mind you. Just not with Duel Disks."

"Ah," Yugi answers, frowning a bit and then shaking his head. It's a odd thought – but then, so was hologram technology, not that long ago.

"Well, let's go inside and talk things through, shall we?" Sugoroku says, opening the front door of the game store but not changing the sign that says _Closed_. "I trust you know what's where?"

"It's not that different from how I know it," the future-Yugi says, peering around curiously, the odd smile still in his face as he takes in the Duel Monster's merchandise on the shelves, the posters on the walls.

Not sure what make of his own future self's apparent, and somewhat twisted, amusement at a thing he himself likes so much, Yugi heads ahead of his elder self, leading him towards the back of the store and then up the stairs to the house, where he eases off his shoes. His future self does the same, leaving the boots leaning against the wall before following him into the kitchen and peering around.

Though the man seems to know everything, he doesn't seem _quite_ as home at the place as Yugi is. At first Yugi can't place the difference there – and then he realises. "You don't live here anymore, do you?" he asks.

"No, I haven't lived at the Kame Game shop in… well, few years," his future self says, sitting down at the kitchen table. "I got an apartment little closer to city centre," he adds, rubbing his hands together.

"You live alone?" Yugi asks and feels odd bang of pain at the thought, his hand straying by itself to the Puzzle.

His future self glances at the Millennium Item and his hand resting on it, and then quickly looks away. "It's not as bad as it might seem," he adds. "And living alone doesn't always mean _being_ alone. I have more than enough company, when I want it."

"Well, that's good to hear," Sugoroku says, coming to the kitchen. "Here I was worried that you'd be freeloading here forever."

"Hey," Yugi objects, while his elder self just grins.

"You say that now, Grandpa, but just wait until he leaves. You'll be begging him to come back – and bring back all the customers with him," he says, pointing at Yugi – who first preens and then frowns with consternation as he realises what his elder self means. Once he moves out of the game shop… there will be no more constant flood of challengers, all after the God Cards?

The future-him grins at him and at their grandfather, who seems to have realised the same thing. "You're never moving out," Sugoroku says just before Yugi can suggest that maybe seventeen wasn't that young to be living alone.

"But –"

"No."

"Aww," Yugi murmurs, and sits down across his future self. "Thanks a lot," he mutters to the man, who grins wider at him.

"Jokes aside, though," Sugoroku says, walking in. "We need to think this through – what's happening here and what are the implications. Yugi – future-Yugi – do you… remember this, any of this?"

Yugi frowns. Remember? _'Oh, he means from_ my _perspective,'_ he realises and turns to look at his elder self. What is present to him would be past to the future-Yugi so he should remember it having happened to him when he had been seventeen. Maybe.

Yugi's future self shakes his head, though, resting his chin on knuckles. "No. And I'm pretty sure it never did happen to me," he says, glancing at Yugi. "Not that there isn't way to forget these things, or erase memories but…" he tilt is his head a bit. "I would still have a, how should I put it… imprint of it."

"Imprint?" Sugoroku asks while Yugi frowns in confusion.

"In here," the elder-Yugi says, patting his chest. "I might not have the Millennium Puzzle, but I still have access to my own soul. And there isn't a way to permanently remove things from a person's soul. If I had lived through a period where my future self had appeared, it would be there – and it isn't."

Yugi frowns. _'Is he right?'_ he asks his other self silently.

_'I'm… I don't know,'_ the spirit answers, sounding confused. _'There are quite a few pieces of my memories missing, however, which contradicts what he says.'_

The future-Yugi seems to know what is going on Yugi's head because he shakes his head. "The Pharaoh's memories aren't _gone_," he says. "That they can't be reached doesn't mean that they aren't there."

Yugi swallows and the shock from the spirit seems to echo through his entire body. "T-they're still there?" he asks, clasping the Puzzle in both hands.

His elder version let's out a hiss through his teeth. "Probably shouldn't have said that," he mutters to himself, looking away guiltily.

"Well," Sugoroku says, looking between them with a frown. "To return to the original matter – you're sure this never happened to you?"

"As sure as I can be," the elder-Yugi says, not looking at Yugi. "I'm pretty familiar with my soul, and it hasn't been tampered with. But if I can check it out later, if you want. I doubt I'll find anything I don't already know to be there, but…"

"Hm," Sugoroku hums and leans back while Yugi stares down at the Puzzle, feeling his other self pacing the corridors of the maze inside it. Even after the prophesies they had heard from Marik and Ishizu, they had still been so uncertain, so very much in the dark. To have their hopes confirmed so easily…

"Why don't you have the Puzzle?" Yugi asks then, and the spirit stops pacing. "You haven't had it in years, have you? Why not? Where is it?"

His future self just looks at him and then away, his expression strange and unreadable. "I think I've read about something like this in a science journal or something," he says to Sugoroku, ignoring Yugi's question completely. "Something about alternate realities and whatnot. Just because I come from the future doesn't necessarily mean I come from _your_ future."

"That could be, though who knows. You might've just forgotten, somehow," Sugoroku answers thoughtfully. "Wasn't there a Millennium Item that can tamper with person's soul room?"

"The Millennium Key, yes," the future-Yugi says but shakes his head. "But the changes the Millennium Key could do were never permanent – time wore them off eventually. And besides, it's wielder never could've done it."

"Not even if thought it needed to be done?" Yugi asks, thinking back to the frankly rather creepy Egyptian. Shadi followed a strange creed and who knew what he could do and why he would do it.

"No," his elder self says with strange but oddly compelling conviction.

"Well, if we accept it as impossibility for now, then… then you are from the future, but not from our future," Grandpa says and sighs with what sounds like relief. "If that is it and it's really possible, then… we're in luck. Especially you," he adds, looking at Yugi's elder self.

"In luck? How?" Yugi asks with a frown. To him accidentally ending up ten years in past doesn't seem like luck.

"If this was my own past, then I'd be in danger of changing my own present, my own future," his elder self answers. "Which could have rather bad side effects on me and my very existence. Just by talking to you I might accidentally erase myself from being, by making you do things differently from how I did them."

"Oh," Yugi says, his eyes a bit wide. "Yeah, that sounds bad."

"Doesn't it, just?" his elder self asks, and then looks away. "Of course, my being here having no consequences to my present is its own can of worms too," he murmurs and grimaces.

"Uh…?" Yugi asks, and when his future self doesn't answer he turns to his Grandpa who is looking equally serious.

"Think about it," the old man says. "He knows your future – probably more or less everything that might happen to you in the next ten or so years."

"And he could change things," Yugi murmurs and looks at his future self who is now scowling at the kitchen corner. "But you already have, haven't you? Just by being here, since this never happened to you, my future will already be different."

"Probably, but I could change things a lot more than that. It wouldn't even be that hard," his elder self says grimly. "Changing things for better and," he glances towards Yugi – no, towards the Millennium Puzzle. "And most definitely for the worse too."

Yugi blinks at that and looks down to the Puzzle. Inside the spirit feels frozen, shocked – and yet reaching out to him almost desperately, holding onto their hearts' connection for dear life. Yugi swallows and then spreads out the fingers still holding the Millennium Puzzle, until he's covering as much of it as he can, holding the item tight against his chest.

The future-Yugi has no Puzzle – and he looked at the spirit like it was painful. Why? What had happened? What ever it is, Yugi does _not_ want it to happen to him.

"Right. Um… excuse me," he says, standing up and stumbling out of the kitchen.

_'Partner…'_ the sprit's voice comes from the Puzzle, soft and uncertain.

_'It's nothing, my other self, I just… I just need to think,'_ Yugi answers, hurrying to his own room and closing the door tightly behind him. He had been intending to sit down on the bed, maybe pace a bit, but the moment the door is shut, he finds himself leaning against it and sliding to the floor, hugging the Puzzle tightly to his chest.

The spirit says nothing, though Yugi can feel his presence stronger, his emotions more powerful – all of them just there, barely below the surface. Like that they hold onto each other, Yugi still clutching onto the Millennium Puzzle as if it would make it less likely that he'd too loose it, like his future self somehow had.

x

Yugi looks after his past self for a long while in silence, feeling a bit conflicted. The kid is so _tiny_ and innocent and… and has no idea how things will turn out yet, can't even imagine it at this point. And it's so tempting, would be so easy, just tell him, tell him to…

"How bad will it be for you?" Grandpa asks, and Yugi jerks a bit, having almost forgotten that the old man is there. Sugoroku stares at him levelly. "You'll lose the Puzzle, somehow. How bad it will be?"

Yugi snorts at that and looks down, to his hands, to the old scars. "That depends on the perspective. I grew stronger without…" without _Atemu_. He had grown a lot, when compared to his past self, and the physical growth was just a small part of that. He had grown tougher, maybe a bit smarter and whole lot more resolute. Independent, in ways he couldn't have imagined when he had still been a teenager. But…

He shakes his head and looks at his grandfather – who is younger, even if still old. It's strange to see him without many of the accumulated wrinkles and still with grey hair – Grandpa's hair was white the last time he had seen and whole lot thinner. "I was alright," Yugi says, what he's been saying for the past ten years or so. "I was fine."

"Now, why do I not believe that?" Sugoroku mutters with a snort. "You're obviously not fine now," the man adds, leaning back in his chair and looking at the doorway past-Yugi had taken on his hurried exit. "I can't say I completely understand the bond my Yugi has with that spirit, but I know how important it is to him, to them both. It must've been that way for you too. What happened to it? What happened to the spirit?"

Yugi turns his eyes to his hands. What had happened? Fate had. And maybe lot of miscommunication. "He moved on," he says finally. Atemu moved on and _left him behind_, and though Yugi knew why, knew that it had _probably_ been the only right… even after ten years a small portion of him still hates Atemu for it. He hates himself more, though. A whole lot more.

He shakes his head again, trying to push the thoughts out of his head – them and the temptation of wondering how to _change_ things for the past-Yugi. If the boy is anything like he had been – and he is, it's painfully obvious – then past-Yugi would regret things too. It would be so easy just to nudge him the right direction and maybe, possibly… have him avoid what had happened.

But he can't. It's not his place – not his time, most likely not his world, not his _anything_. The past-Yugi might be a version of him, but that doesn't mean that Yugi has any right to tamper with his life.

"I should probably start figuring out what to do, from here on," Yugi says, forcing himself away from the thoughts in his head. "If everything happened the way I think it did, then I might be stuck here for a while," and maybe permanently, and god how horrible would that be, to endure these years again? "Either way, I need to decide what to do. I'll need… things. ID, place to stay, things like that."

"You can of course stay here," Grandpa offers quickly.

Yugi shakes his head. He can't – not with past-Yugi and _him_ there. Staying there and trying to keep quiet would drive him mad. "It's better I don't, not for any extended period of time," he says. "I might change things, even without meaning to. It's probably better to avoid it."

Sugoroku frowns at him, looking like he's about to object but stopping with a strange look. "Well, I suppose I can't exactly say you're too _young_," the man murmurs. "But still. Do you know how you would manage? For a place to stay you need money to pay for it. Do you have any with you?" he asks.

Yugi shrugs and digs out his wallet, going through it. "Yeah. Maybe enough for a month's rent and living in a cheap place," he answers after counting the bills. "Problem is that most of these," he pulls out one of the ten thousand yen bills, "were printed in the future. Anyone who takes a closer look at the dates would think they're all fake."

Sugoroku considers the bill and then sighs, shaking his head. "I can exchange them for money from this time and put the future bills in a safe – and then use them once they _are_ printed," he says and looks at him. "But that's not the main issue here, though."

No it isn't. Yugi can't go on living as Mutou Yugi and thus take the past-Yugi's name – their records would clash. He needs a new name – not to mention a new past. Plus, all his education, his work experience, all of it's meaningless here when it's not on record…

"Yugi's companion suggested that Kaiba Seto might be good enough to conjure a fake identity for you," Sugoroku says. "And I agree, for a young man of his talents and resources it wouldn't even be hard. Whether he'd do it or not is another thing, however."

"Just have A – the pharaoh duel him for it," Yugi says, quickly biting his tongue on the name. "He'd never turn it down."

"Maybe not," Sugoroku agrees. "But say you get your new identification. What then?"

Yugi shrugs and leans back, sighing. "Try and figure out a way to go back?" he muses, but he doesn't have any high hopes of it. His memories of the science expo are vague and scattered, and though he had taken some pictures of it which might be useful, it's not like he actually knows what had happened or how it had been done – science has never been his expertise, not by a long shot. Plus there is the concept that this past is not _his_ past, and the future of this world isn't _his_ future…

Well, if they'd be able to get Kaiba to help him, then maybe Kaiba could figure it out? If anyone can, it'd be Kaiba, but… Even if they can figure out a way to reverse whatever had happened, would he able to go back to the place he had came from, rather than getting stranded on some different, alien future?

"And if you can't?" Grandpa asks softly.

"Figure out a way to live here, I guess," Yugi murmurs with a faint grimace. Though it isn't like he had been living out his dreams back in his own time, he _had_ build himself a living. He had a business – he had _clientele_ and rather neat resume if he says so himself. All of that is gone here. He'd need to start all over again – if he even can. All of his projects are gone, his history, his experience… and he doesn't even have the reputation of the King of Games to start from.

And can he anyway, is it right to pursue that career again? What he had worked out in the past, the past-Yugi of this world may want to work out in his own future and if Yugi starts to work, he might just as well be stealing his younger self's future occupation.

Well. He can get a job that doesn't mean working with games. Maybe. He can do it, if he has to.

"First things first," he says, letting the thought trail away. "I need ID and Kaiba is probably the best chance at getting a good, convincing one. If we can get him to do it…"

Well, if the Atemu wouldn't want to try and get the favour out of Kaiba, then Yugi could maybe do it himself. He's not exactly a shabby duellist, and Kaiba is nothing if not a man starved for a challenge. Or… the boy. God, even Kaiba is seventeen right now, isn't he? _'This will really take some getting used to,'_ Yugi thinks to himself while smothering a groan.

"It's as good a place to start as any," Sugoroku says after a while, looking at him thoughtfully. "Probably better we have Yugi make the call, though," he adds. "It will have better effect that way."

"No kidding," Yugi murmurs and glances out to the hall, the way leading to past-Yugi's bedroom. He had spooked the boy good and now feels a bit of a guilty sting at it. It's not his past self's fault, the mistakes he himself had made, the regrets he has… and he really shouldn't be taking them out on the past-him and on the spirit. He should go out there and apologise, but…

He doubts he has it in him to enter that room as it is now, in it's still hopeful, innocent state – the state it had been, before he had torn everything in it down in helpless, sobbing fury after Atemu's departure.

What he thinks must be showing in his face, because Grandpa clears his throat and says, "You're just _fine_, are you?" knowingly, giving him a pointed look.

"Oh, shut it, Gramps," Yugi sighs, running a hand over his face and then standing up. "I'll go and… ask him. If you don't mind."

"If you're sure," Sugoroku says and stands up. "I think I'll make some tea. Ask if Yugi wants any."

To hear his own name spoken like that – at himself and yet it doesn't mean him? – is a bit strange but Yugi nods and heads out of the kitchen, idly hooking his thumbs on his trouser pockets. The way to the door of past-Yugi's door is short and outside it he hesitates for a moment – secretly grateful he hears nothing.

He doesn't want to go in, doesn't even want to see the room – it would bring it all crashing back, he wouldn't be able to handle it… No. He's stronger than this – and maybe it's high time to try and start fighting his past demons. One little battle at a time and maybe, just maybe, he'd finally be able to get over himself.

Steeling himself, Yugi knocks the door, and hears a startled shift that seems to grind against the door - past-Yugi is sitting on the floor against the door. Wincing a bit, the time traveller sighs; he really needs to start watching his actions and words if they really have _this_ bad effect on the kid.

"Yes?" his past self asks through the door.

"It's me," Yugi says – and isn't that weird? "Grandpa and I talked and figured that before anything else, I'll need an ID. Could you call Kaiba for me? I'd do it myself, but, well…" he shrugs, even though his younger self can't see it.

There is a moment of silence before the door opens and Yugi quickly steps back and looks away from the door. He can feel his younger self's curious, confused gaze on him but ignores it, saying instead. "Also Grandpa is making some tea," to cover his own unease.

"Oh. Right. Well, I can try calling Kaiba, but I might not catch him – he's been in and out of Japan since the Battle City Tournament," his past self says. "He might be in America. But I'll try."

"Thanks," Yugi answers and relaxes a bit as his younger self closes the door – hiding away the memories. "It's probably better not to tell him what you need exactly, not on the phone. Just tell him you need a favour, and…" he glances at his younger self, wondering. "Well, I suppose _I_ could duel him for the favour, but it might not interest him, seeing that he doesn't know _me_."

"My other self already promised he'd do it, if Kaiba buys it," his younger self says awkwardly. "If that's okay?"

"Yeah, it's… fine," Yugi nods, wondering what he'd have to do to _avoid_ being present at the duel. It had been bad enough to have seen Atemu in his incorporeal form, but to see him in control of his past self's body….

Though considering the whole thing is for him, he probably can't escape making appearance.

"I'll, uh… go and make the call, then," his younger self says, motioning to the end of the hall where the phone is, hooked onto the wall.

"Right. I'll leave you to it," Yugi nods and turns to make his way back to the kitchen, stopping when his younger self clears his throat.

"Was it… inevitable?" he asks, and Yugi freezes, unable to stop himself from throwing an alarmed look at his younger – and so, so much more innocent - self. His younger self is staring at him seriously. "Was it inevitable?" he asks again and he doesn't really need to elaborate.

"I…" Yugi chokes a bit – and how ironic is it, that he himself is the one asking the question no one else has ever dared to word and yet the kid has no idea how serious it is, how horrible – how many nightmares Yugi has had of it. Was it inevitable? Could've he done something to change it? Maybe, possibly, but then again… "I don't know," he finally admits and then, before his younger self can ask anything else, he continues down the hall and out of reach.

God, but he needs to get out of this house and _soon_.

x

Seto has to admit to himself – he is damn curious. Yugi _never_ asks for anything, definitely not for favours, and to have him actually call and ask him if he'd be willing to duel, betting a favour for favour perhaps… it's unusual and _very_ interesting. So interesting, in fact, that Seto smothers his initial urge to instantly agree and then have the duel televised for promotion.

"I'm at the Kaiba Corp. head quarters. Come here and we'll talk about it," he says instead and hangs up, intending to squeeze out what Yugi wants before any duels would take place. Then he'd maybe televise it – or if not, then at least the duel would take in the Kaiba Corp. Duel Platform and would thus be recorded – for later use.

With that done, he lets the front desk know to inform him if Mutou Yugi enters the building and to let in him and any companions he might bring with him. While waiting for his rival's eventual arrival, Seto idly orders the Duel Stage to readied and the camera system checked, just in case, before leaning back in his seat to wait. He has some paper work to go through, some plans to be looked into but those can wait for few hours.

It takes longer for Yugi to arrive than Seto would've liked, but not as long as to be annoying. Bu the time the front desk informs him that Mutou Yugi is on his way up – with two companions, which surprisingly few really – Seto has gone back to the paper work and finished reading through few of the reports from various branches of his corporation.

"Considering you yourself asked for a meeting, one would expect you to be on time, Yugi," Seto snaps at his rival when the shorter teen enters – closely followed not by his usual groupies, but his _grandfather_ and someone else, a man taller than both of the two Mutous. It's hard to say who it is – the man's wearing a hooded vest slightly too small for him, with the hood lifted up – but Seto can immediately tell it's not one of the groupies. None of them, as far as he knows anyway, ever wears leather.

"Sorry, Kaiba, the traffic was horrible," Yugi says, glancing at the tallest of his two companions before turning his eyes to Seto. "So, have you thought about my request?"

Seto narrows his eyes before standing up from behind his desk and coming to stand in front of, leaning against the desk's edge. "That depends on what the _favour_ you want is," he says, folding his arms and staring straight at the hooded man. "It's not like you to bet things on duels, and I'm thinking this time it's the favour you're really after, and the duel is just your way of getting it."

"Well, yeah, it is," Yugi admits, sheepish and awkward.

"Which makes this all the more interesting," Seto continues, and narrows his eyes, still eying the hooded man. Two extra belts, the boots, the bracelets… the vest is open from the front and he can see a black shirt beneath, with slightly ripped low hanging collar. It's all very familiar – not to mention about the leather trousers. Of all the weirdoes Seto knows, Mutou Yugi is the only one who can wear leather and look perfectly natural and comfortable in it.

Things are always strange and bizarre around Yugi. But this? Can it be? Whatever it is, he is not in the mood of playing games. "You," Seto snaps, nodding at the man. "Take off your hood."

The man tilts his head a bit and then smiles before lifting a ring adorned hand to push the hood back – to reveal what Seto somehow had and yet hadn't been expecting. "I wasn't really trying to hide," the man says, running a hand through his spiky, two-coloured hair, shaking it into its usual messy state. "Just avoiding security cameras. And the weirdoes that hang about your front entrance."

Seto narrows his eyes, taking in the similarities – and there are many, and yet… His eyes flicking between Mutou Yugi and the man who looks very much like him, Seto drums his upper arm with his fingers, making a mental tally of the features the two share and then the differences – before comparing what he sees to what he has seen of the _other_ Yugi. As much as he hates the concept of magic and all that nonsense, even he can't deny that Yugi _has_ another self, a stronger and more authoritative personality that emerges when the usual Yugi's strength isn't enough.

Yugi isn't insane, though – Seto has had a team of psychiatrists take look at the boy from distance, viewing video footage and listening to audio files, and they all agreed. Yugi is one of the most stable people Seto knows. And yet… There it is, the _other_ Yugi, with his sharp looks and glares and the god damned _smugness_.

And there is _some_ measure of the unnatural in that other Yugi. The same unnaturalness Seto had seen with Bakura, with Marik and with Pegasus. He has experienced it first hand too many times to turn himself blind to it. He may not know how it works, where it comes from, what its purpose is – but he knows that shifting _souls_ is the very least of the powers those with Millennium Items possess.

This man, though… isn't the _other_ Yugi. He lacks the mannerism, the posture, the expression – his eyes are different, but not in that fundamental way that always separates Yugi from the _other_ one. No, this man shares more with the actual Yugi than he does with the _other_ Yugi – though he is different too. Older, for one.

"Explain," Seto finally growls out. If this is magic yet again…

The two Yugis in front of him share a look at the younger one makes an awkward motion with his hand. The elder one shrugs and then speaks. "I'm not completely sure how it happened, but a technological gadget probably sent me back in time," he says, pushing his hand into his trouser pocket and retrieving an odd, sleek device. "To me this is about eleven years in the past," he adds, turning the device on and doing something to the screen before stepping forward and holding it out.

When Seto doesn't make a move to accept it, the man who _might_ be another Mutou Yugi rolls his eyes. "It's just a phone, Kaiba. I took some pictures before I woke up here and the device that sent me back might be in them."

"You can take pictures with your phone?" Seto asks suspiciously but reaches out to accept the device

"I'm from the year two thousand and ten – I can track satellites with my phone," the elder Yugi rolls his eyes. "Also the screen is touch sensitive, just flick your finger from side to side to leaf through the pictures."

Scowling, Seto looks down to the device – and then, ignoring the image displayed on its wide, impressively sharp quality screen, he turns the device around in his hand. "Is that -?!" he growls out, running a finger over the strip of glimmering white running along the phone's back. Yes it is, the texture is a bit different – the crystals have been covered by thin sheet of translucent material, probably to protect them, but it is definitely what he thinks it is. "What the hell is _my_ h-pad doing on this thing?"

"I don't know, _you_'re the one who made the thing, not me," the elder Yugi snorts. "Just look at the damn pictures, will you?"

_He_ made it? Smothering the urge to growl, Seto does as asked and then frowns. The pictures show some sort of exhibition, possibly a technology expo of some sort. In every picture there are enormous flat panel TV screens flashing in colour, and everyone who had wandered into the picture frame seems to be holding a phone or hand held video camera, in some cases both. And in one picture…

It is him – or someone who looks disturbingly like him, dressed in a white suit with a blue dress shirt. He too has a phone in his hand – the exact same type in Seto's hands right now – and judging by the looks of it Yugi had snapped the picture while the… _other_ Seto had been talking.

The elder Yugi leans closer to look and grins. "Not very flattering shot, I know. I'm not that good a camera man," he says, and then bribes the phone out of Seto's fingers, ignoring his growl of objection. "Nope," the man says. "Mine. Besides letting you get hands on tech from the future is probably not a good thing. Not for the global market anyway."

"I'll pay you million yen for that phone," Seto says quickly – he'd pay that much just for the _pictures_, but the phone itself…! The image capture capability alone was worth a fortune, but the advanced H-pad, the touch sensitive screen and there must be so much more to the phone.

"A billion wouldn't be enough," the elder-Yugi grins and hides the phone away. "I'm not an idiot, Kaiba, and I know how much you made with this thing – and that was in a time where smart phones were perfectly common. Here you'd make a killing with this. So no."

"Tch," Seto hisses, staring at the man keenly. "Billion then."

"Tempting, but nope," the man answers, smiling wider.

"_Two billion_."

"A-hem," a voice cuts in before the man who maybe is a time traveller can answer. The younger Yugi had stepped closer and is now eying them with amusement mixed with unease. "As… valuable as the phone might be, it's not why we're here."

"Hmph," Seto grunts and looks at the elder-Yugi thoughtfully. "You need some fake ID, I guess."

"That's about the size of it," the man agrees.

"I'll have them make if you give me that phone."

The man snorts, grinning widely at him. "Yeah, I think I can get a fake ID from some back alley a whole lot cheaper than that, thanks."

"Not as good, though. Two billion _and_ the ID?" Seto asks, though without much hope. Whatever's happened to this Yugi, he's not a gullible idiot anymore – and he knows the value of what he has. Damn it. It almost makes Seto regret the fact that these days he prefers to get his ideas and projects the legal way.

Almost.

"Well," Seto says in irritation when the man just continues to look amused. "You think you can _duel_ the ID out of me then?" he asks and folds his arms again. "Gutsy."

"Actually we thought that my other self would… I mean, the one here," the younger Yugi says, touching the Millennium Puzzle.

Seto harrumphs. Normally just that would've been more than worth it - Yugi has some strange aversion to playing publicly and as far as Seto knows all the major tournaments he's played in, he's been dragged into by force. Pegasus forced him to the Duellist Kingdom, Ishizu tempted him to Battle City… So there was certain value of having Yugi's offer, all for such a low price as having Seto make a fake ID for his future self.

But Seto's played Yugi before – both of him, even.

"Do you have a deck?" he asks the elder Yugi.

"Yes?" the man answers, confused.

"I want to play you – win or lose, I'll make the ID," Seto says. Better to, really – it would ensure that the elder-Yugi would be safe from legal troubles and thus would stick around – and Seto would have certain leverage over him. "And we _will_ talk about the phone again," he adds. "And don't give me that _sentimental value_ bullshit. It's a mobile phone for heaven's sake."

The man's eyes widen innocently. "But it _does_ have sentimental value. You gave it to me," he says and then starts laughing at the cold look Seto levels at him.

"So, uh…" the younger Yugi asks, looking between them. "You two are going to duel, and not us…?" He looks oddly relieved and offended about it, all at once.

"Yes, and we'll do it right now – I have the corporation Duel Platform ready and set to go," Seto says and gives the elder Yugi a look. "I trust they still _use_ Duel Platforms in your time."

"Sort of," the man agrees thoughtfully. "Well, not really. They're sort of -"

"Obsolete?" the younger Yugi asks, his tone pointed. "Like Duel Disks?"

"Yeah, kind of. Some people still use them, but it's pretty rare, more a nostalgia thing really."

"Then what the hell do you use?" Seto asks, curious and bothered all at once.

"I thought it would be obvious," the elder Yugi says, blinking at him. "Why do you think my phone has an h-pad in the first place?"

Seto narrows his eyes. He is getting that phone. It i_s_ going to be his – and damn the expenses.

x

A thing continues. Also the pairing is future-Yugi x Yugi x Yami/Atemu, and variations of it. So that you know. And if I keep writing this at this rate and posting the chapters the way I have so far, this will have somewhere around 33.33333 chapters. Hundred scenes, to be precise.


	3. Part 3

Warnings; timetravel au. Eventual slash and BDSM and D/s stuff. Some oocness and maybe spoilers. Post Battle City. Bit of angst and weirdness.

**Hundred Moments**  
**Part 3.**

"And that's about that," Yugi says, leaning his elbows onto the Duel Platform's card table, looking over the expanse of the stage to Kaiba who stands at the other side, behind his own card table, glaring at him. The only monster standing on the stage between them is the Silent Swordsman, level nine – with the attack power of fifty-five hundred. Which had been quite enough to beat the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon – and to wipe out last of Kaiba's life points.

"What? You didn't think I was going to go easy on you, did you?" Yugi asks, smiling. Poor Kaiba, he had no idea what he had been getting himself into. The man didn't known his deck, not the way Kaiba of the future did – didn't know to expense the LV. Monsters and the many, many ways Yugi can power them up.

Well he knows now – just about fraction of it, Yugi has lot more tricks up his sleeve than the two Silents, but he knows a bit. If they had another duel, it would probably be a bit more difficult for Yugi.

"Your deck is different," Kaiba answers with a glower while starting to return his cards to his deck.

"Actually it isn't, not that much," Yugi answers, taking the Silent Swordsman from the table and making the hologram in the stage vanish. "This is my old deck; I haven't changed it in years. Imagine how it would've been like if I had used all the _new_ cards, the ones that haven't even been developed yet," he adds and grins. If he had been playing with his phone, Kaiba's head would've been screwed oh so bad.

While the billionaire keeps on glaring at him, Yugi returns his deck into its holster and then jumps down from the stage, to join his younger self and his grandfather. "How was that?" he asks from his younger self – secretly relieved that Atemu's still in the Puzzle, though the spirit must've been watching through Yugi's eyes.

"Your deck seems to be a lot like the one I've been thinking of making," his past self answers thoughtfully, giving him a look. "You really haven't changed it in a while, have you?"

"I do have other decks, and the one I play with the most is a virtual one, not physical," Yugi shrugs. "This is the only one I carry with me though. Sentimental value."

"Oh, shut up," Kaiba groans, coming over while shoving his own deck into his holster with annoyed force. "Why didn't you use the god cards?"

"Wha – oh, yeah, I don't play with them," Yugi shrugs. "They're pretty much banned from every place and tournament, and people won't play me at all if they think I have in my deck."

Kaiba considers that and then nods begrudgingly. "So what do you want from your new identification?" he asks, glaring at Yugi. "Do you have a name picked out, what sort of schooling should I fake for you, anything?"

"Um… actually, no," Yugi answers awkwardly, not having thought of it at all – he hadn't thought it would be this easy. "Hmmm… what do you think?" he asks his younger self, who frowns at him thoughtfully.

"Well you can't be Mutou Yugi, that's for sure," his younger self says and glances at Sugoroku who was looking thoughtfully towards the empty stage. "Grandpa?"

"Hm. I was thinking that maybe we could play you off as being related to the family – that hair's a bit obvious and I don't suppose you'd be willing to dye it," the old man says at which Yugi shakes his head. "Didn't think so. However, if we try and say that you're Yugi's cousin or some other distant relative, it might be somewhat awkward… you never having been around and no one having ever heard of you, and all."

"Let's just slap a random name on him and tell everyone he's the midget's biggest fan, no one will think of it twice," Kaiba mutters.

"No need to be a sore loser," Yugi grins at him and then thinks about it. "I think I'd want a name that sounds familiar," he says. "Call me something like Kenji and I'll never know when people are talking to me. Something that starts with Yu."

They thought about it for a while, Yugi going mentally through all the names he knew that started with Yu – and discarding a lot of them, Yudao and Yusuke and so fort just doesn't sound like him.

"How about Yuto?" Yugi's own past self suggests, looking up at him. "It's different, but kind of same, and sounds a bit like mix of both my names."

"And Minamoto for surname. Minamoto Yuto," Sugoroku says.

"Why Minamoto?" Yugi asks, tilting his head.

His grandfather shrugs. "Our family are partially descended from the Minamoto clan. It seems fitting," he says, giving Yugi a once over. "And you don't look like a Fujiwara to me."

"Oh, thanks," Yugi grumbles, but takes a moment to consider it. Minamoto doesn't sound all that familiar, but he supposes he could get used to it. And Yuto… yeah, that could work. Definitely better than Yusuke. "Minamoto Yuto. I guess I could live with that," he muses, though it seems like a forfeit somehow, to give up his name. If he's going to be here for a long while – if he's going to be here _forever_ then… would it mean that he really can't be Mutou Yugi again? Not ever?

It may be necessary, but that doesn't mean that he has to like it. Or that he needs to ever think of himself as Minamoto. Or Yuto, for that matter.

"Minamoto Yuto then," Kaiba says, rolling his eyes. "Anything else? You'd probably want medical and school records – anything I need to know?"

"Yeah, some, though…" Yugi frowns, thinking about it. He had studied game design in Nagoya. Faking that record would be maybe a bit tough – not that Kaiba couldn't do it, but should anyone call the university and ask about him… plus he sort of wants a resume, one that he can actually safely use. But can he go to game design again?

"I kind of want to have an equivalent of my actual education. And at least some of my resume, somehow, though I guess I could just rebuild it…" Frowning a bit he turns to his younger self, who is looking up to him curiously. "Do you mind if I go to for the game design business?"

"You design _games _for living?" past-Yugi asks with shock while both Kaiba and Sugoroku blink at him with surprise.

"Well… yes. As a freelancer – people hire me to design games for them, mostly board and card games and stuff like that. And I occasionally sell the designs of ones I come up myself to bigger companies. Isn't that what you're planning to do?" Yugi asks, raising his eyebrows.

"I haven't really thought about it," his younger self says, still looking up with him in shock. "I thought I'd be playing in tournaments for living. I mean… I'm decent duellist and lot of players less experienced than me make their living like that."

"I thought that too," Sugoroku admits, looking at Yugi. "Yugi could easily make a fortune just by playing Duel Monsters – you mean to tell us you _don't_?"

"Oh, that's right," Yugi murmurs and frowns. He had forgotten – that had been his plan, before Egypt. After that, he hadn't wanted to play Duel Monsters _at all_ not to mention about playing it for living. It had taken him months to even look at his deck again. That was why he had gone to Nagoya in the first place – to get away from the game.

"So, you _don't_ mind?" he asks awkwardly.

"Why would I mind?" his younger self asks, looking at him oddly.

"Because I would, if you were about to invent and get the credit of all the things I could just as well be making myself," Yugi answers with a shrug. "But if you don't mind, then…" he turns to Kaiba, who is looking at him with a strange gleam in his eyes. "What?"

"You design games for living," the billionaire says thoughtfully. "Any good?"

"I designed few for you," Yugi shrugs. "You seemed satisfied."

"Indeed? Hmm…" the brown haired teenager eyes him for a long moment and then smiles – rather like a snake. Or a wolf. "I think I can come up with plausible records for you. Tell me, those games of yours. You wouldn't happen to be able to remake them?"

"Why? So that you can publish them ahead of time?" Yugi asks and rests his hands at his hips. "Aren't you at all worried about changing the future, Kaiba?"

"Not in the slightest," the teen answers with a smirk.

Yugi snorts and shakes his head. Well, if nothing else, Kaiba is the exact same he is in the future. "I'll consider it. If you make the ID and records for me and so on, I think I might feel like indulging your game interests. Can you do it?"

"Oh, in my sleep," Kaiba answers with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Give me a day and I'll have Minamoto Yuto a legal citizen of Domino. Any preferences of a birth place?"

"Make it Domino, but make all my school records in Nagoya. I'm familiar enough with the place to fake it," Yugi answers. Even if he has to fake it, he'd be damned before he'd forfeit his birth-place too. "Also no living parents or close relatives."

"Obviously," Kaiba says, rolling his eyes and then considering it. "So, you were born in Domino but raised in Nagoya and I expect you're just moving back into Domino? And you want to work with game development. Hm. Do you want a degree though? Because as good records as I might be able to fake, they might not hold water if someone decides to call to your supposed teachers."

"Yeah, there is that," Yugi sighs. "I guess I'll have to be self taught. It seems to be working fine for you, after all."

"I already have a highly successful occupation, not to mention major shares in a multi billion corporation and several very skilled stockbrokers in my employ," Kaiba answers with a look. "I don't need a degree."

"No need to rub it in my face," Yugi says with a laugh.

"So, uh," his younger version says awkwardly. "It's all settled, then?"

"It's fine. Just give me a day and you'll have all the right papers," Kaiba says. "I can do it in less, but it will take at least that long to get my hands on the right sort of machinery to print out a driver's licence and some cards. You know how to drive, right?"

"Yes, I know how to drive," Yugi answers. "So do you have all the knowledge you need now, or…?"

"Yes. There is one more thing though," Kaiba says and folds his arms. "About that phone…"

"Nope," Yugi says quickly, stepping back. Though he has to admit, it is damn tempting – bit of money would solve a whole _load_ of his problems, mainly the one about staying in the same house as his younger self and Atemu, but… "I'll think about it okay, but you're not ambushing me first thing and swindling a deal out of me which might just as well turn out poorly for me. We'll talk about it when you get the ID papers, maybe."

"Fine," Kaiba says, giving him an irritated look before glancing between Yugi and past-Yugi who is staring up at them thoughtfully. "I'll hold onto that. Now get the hell out of my building, all of you, you're giving me a head ache."

"Till tomorrow then," Yugi says glancing at his younger self and Grandfather who, after a moment of hesitation, turn to leave with him.

"Is this okay?" The younger Yugi asks as they head for the exit. "I mean, this is all pretty illegal. What if we get caught?"

"Kaiba Seto, get caught? That'd be the day," Yugi answers with a laugh and lift's up the hood of his dark blue hooded vest – or past-Yugi's hooded vest. There's no real point in it, but there were some paparazzi lingering about the building's entrance and past-Yugi is currently something of a celebrity and Yugi doesn't feel like being drawn into that just yet.

"It'll be fine," Yugi adds. "Kaiba's the best guy for the job, even if it isn't exactly what he _does_ on regular basis, he'll go about it the long way."

"How so?" Sugoroku asks thoughtfully. "Granted, getting machines just so that he can print the proper cards, that's not a small effort, but –"

"An ID is only as good as the corresponding records in the system," Yugi shrugs. "You can have all the birth certificates and medical records in the world, but if there is no hospital with matching records, they don't mean much. Kaiba can create those matching records – he _is_ the best hacker in the world."

"He is?" his past self asks with surprise.

"Well. He's Kaiba Seto. I think it sort of goes with the territory," Yugi says thoughtfully. "Though I'm still not sure if it's because of the territory of being Kaiba Seto or territory of running a huge-ass company with ton of enemies."

"Language, young man," Sugoroku says automatically, without looking at him.

"Sorry, Grandpa."

"You know a lot about this," past-Yugi says, looking up to him with a frown.

Yugi shrugs. "Weird life, what can I say. And I occasionally work for Kaiba, so I get to see what goes on behind the scene. You wouldn't believe the amount of industrial spying going on in the gaming world."

"Actually, I sort of can," his younger self says. "If all game developers are as weird as Pegasus and Kaiba… yeah, it makes sense."

"Oh, thanks. That makes me feel oh so much better about myself," Yugi grins at the shorter version of himself whose eyes widen in shock.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean _you_!" the teenager quickly objects.

Yugi just laughs, shaking his head. _'Oh you would,'_ he thinks, looking away from the teen and the gleam of gold at his chest._ 'If you really knew me, you'd find me the weirdest of them all. And maybe the most disturbing too.'_

x

The trip to the Kaiba Corp. had taken longer than they had assumed and by the time they make it back home, it's already getting dark. While Grandpa heads to the kitchen to make dinner, he points Yugi – both of them – to the guest room, to make it ready for future-Yugi for the night. It both startles and relieves Yugi a bit, to realise that his future self is staying there for the night, though in the same time…

The guest room seems somehow wrong. "You could sleep in my room," he suggests as they make the bed in the guest room. "It is sort of your room too."

"No. It's fine," his future self says with a shake of a head. "And it really isn't."

Yugi frowns a bit at that but when his older self just throws a smile at him he lets it go. It still feels off, somehow. Almost as if he would take the Puzzle into another room for the night – just… wrong. Future-Yugi is another self of him, after all – and Yugi's sort of gotten adjusted to keeping his _other_ selves close.

It's a bit surprising to realise that, despite all the awkwardness, that somehow includes future-Yugi too.

"You know, I think this should be weirder," he says while straightening the sheets.

"Weirder? It _isn't_ weird for you?" his future self asks, giving him an odd look.

"Well… yes, but not as much as it was in the beginning. I guess that's the side effect of having met people like Pegasus and Bakura and Marik," Yugi says, sighing. His future self acts a bit weird and Yugi doesn't _understand_ him – but… "Well, it happened, you're here and probably to stay, and that's that. I could keep freaking out about it, but… nah."

His elder self chuckles at that and then sits down on the bed. "That's that, huh," he murmurs, idly plucking his rings off one by one and jingling them in his palm. "I was surprisingly mellow when I was younger," he murmurs to himself.

"You aren't anymore?" Yugi asks, wondering if he can, if he ought to – but he _does_ want to know more about his older self and this seems a bit safer subject matter than whatever difficulties future-Yugi has with the Puzzle.

"Well, maybe, but not as much," his future self says, looking at him. "Nothing _that_ weird or magical has happened to me in a long while and I've gotten used to things being… well, semi normal," he explains. "So for me this is pretty special."

Yugi considers that and then sits down beside his elder self, taking care not to touch or jostle the Puzzle too much - trying to avoid drawing his elder self's attention to it since it seems to bother the man so much, which then bothers the spirit. "What is the future like?" he asks, while casually shifting so that the label of his jacket covers most of the Millennium Item.

_'I'm sorry, my other self,'_ he adds silently, guilty about hiding the Puzzle the way he is – as if he's ashamed of it. _'But he seems to be in a better mood now, and…'_

_'I understand, partner, it is alright,'_ the spirit assures him, though it's obvious how much the whole thing bothers him too.

"The future, huh?" the man says and at least seems to have missed the way Yugi covered the Puzzle. "It's not that different. The technology's more advanced, sure, some things have happened, big and small… but people are pretty much the same. On personal level of course it's different, when one compares your life with mine – you're still in school, after all. But…" he considers it. "Overall the world is pretty much the same."

"How are the others doing?" Yugi asks. "You are still friends with everyone, right? You still hang out with Kaiba."

Future-Yugi snorts. "You can't really call it _hanging out_," he says, shaking his head. "But yeah, I still keep in contact with everyone. Jonouchi plays Duel Monster professionally, so he's travelling pretty much non-stop after tournaments, but we see each other when ever he's in town – oh, and he's married and has two kids."

Yugi nearly chokes on his own tongue at the sound of that. "_Jou_?" he asks with disbelief. "Kids?!"

"Oh yeah," his elder self says, grinning widely. "Two darling girls, he spoils them rotten," he adds before leaning back and against the wall. "Anzu's living in Tokyo, so I don't see her as often as I'd like, but every now and then. She's an actor," he says, smiling fondly. "She tried to go for the dancing career but I think there was something about her weight or something? I don't know, but she went to drama school instead. She's doing pretty well."

"Huh," Yugi mutters, his eyes a bit wide at the thought of his friends having _careers_. And _kids_. Seriously, Jonouchi, with kids? "What about Honda?"

"He's in the self-defence forces. He originally joined the ground forces and was only going to stay for the two year term, but after that he went to the National Defence Academy for officer training," his elder self says. "He finished the academy just last year actually. Last I heard of him, he was aiming to stay in the military for as long as he could."

"Whoa," Yugi murmurs and then considers it. Yeah, it somehow seems fitting. "Did he and Shizuka ever…?"

"Ah, no. He went to military, she went to study to become a doctor," his elder self says and shrugs. "I hear that she's one hell of an optometrist, but that might be just Jou boasting. I haven't seen her in a while myself." The man shifts a bit, lifting his feet to the bed and resting his elbows to his bent knees. "Otogi didn't start anything with her either, by the way," he adds. "He went to business school – and finally launched Dungeon Dice Monsters properly."

Yugi nods thoughtfully. "And Kaiba's still Kaiba. Hmm. How's Bakura?"

His elder self is quiet for a while. "He moved to United Kingdom back in… two thousand and one, wasn't it?" he murmurs. "I haven't seen him since."

"Why not?" Yugi asks curiously. "You aren't friends anymore?"

His elder self just shakes his head. "People change – and some people need change. He just was one of them," he says. "I think he might be making games for living too – there is this one board game that looks a lot like the ones he used to make, but…"

"Oh."

They're quiet for a moment while Yugi considers the man's words – not just about Bakura but about the rest too. It makes him a bit dizzy to realise that _he knows his friends' futures_ all of sudden. Even if in general terms. "Should you be telling me this?" he asks, a bit bewildered with the realisation that he's, sort of, sitting next to a fortune-teller of all things.

The time traveller laughs at that, leaning his head back – and for one moment Yugi is obscurely jealous about his neck, the obvious muscle tone lining it. "Probably not," his elder self says and looks down to him. "But it might be that none of it will happen here. Especially now that I've told you."

"Yeah, maybe," Yugi agrees, and leans against the wall too. When the Puzzle isn't in between them, his elder self is actually pretty easy to talk to. It makes him feel like a cheat, somehow, or maybe like a traitor, but without the awkwardness and the weird looks… he rather likes his elder self. He's nothing like what Yugi imagined he might become himself, but future-Yugi is somehow…

_'Compelling,'_ the spirit says from the Puzzle.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Even when the awkwardness is there and so obvious, Yugi's future is still somehow… compelling. There's no other way to put it – and Yugi can't even imagine how the man had became like that because he himself is certainly in no way –

_'Yes you are,'_ the spirit cuts in, amused. _'You just don't realise it. I think he has not just realised but he's embraced it and now it comes more easily for him, than it does you.'_

_'I do not – I am not – what are you even talking –?'_ Yugi objects, automatically reaching to touch the Puzzle – and then stops.

His elder self doesn't look at him, he just sort of sighs and the easy atmosphere from before is broken. Yugi manages to only barely keep himself from slumping down in disappointment. "Sorry," he murmurs, lowering his hand while inside the Puzzle the spirit winces.

"What?" the man asks, glancing at him.

"Sorry. It bothers you for some reason, but it's not like I can just leave him –" Yugi stops, shaking his head, and shifts, holding the Puzzle so that it's hidden in his arms.

"You really don't need to apologise," the man says, leaning back again and closing his eyes for a moment. "And, ah… It's not _him_ that bothers me," he adds. "I don't want him to think that. It's not really the Puzzle either."

"Then what is it?" Yugi asks a bit plaintively.

The man considers it for a moment. "That's hard to say, actually," he says then and motions at himself, not opening his eyes. "At the risk of sounding like an idiot: you must've noticed I don't have the Puzzle anymore."

"Y-yeah, it's kind of obvious," Yugi murmurs.

"Well, there are lot of reasons why not, some of them even good ones," the man says. "It's the _bad_ ones that bother me. And they'll probably keep on bothering me until I die. It's not your fault, it's not even his fault – if it's anyone's fault then it's my own."

"But…" Yugi trails away as he realises suddenly that he actually doesn't want to know. Because if what the man's saying is true – then he's angry at himself, not at the spirit. Which means that… what ever happened was future-Yugi_'s_ fault? At least maybe partially?

Bowing his head a bit, Yugi frowns in concentration. Had future-Yugi driven the spirit away somehow, and been forced to relinquish the Puzzle because of it? And now he regrets it? And would the same eventually happen to Yugi?

_'No, that can't have been it,'_ the spirit hurriedly assures. _'Nothing you could do would do that. And look at him. He might be blaming himself, but regardless of what he says he's blaming me too. He can't even look at the Puzzle and that's not just guilt – that's anger. What happened must've been… mutual.'_

_'And how is that any better?'_ Yugi asks with disbelief.

_'It… isn't,'_ the spirit agrees faintly.

"I shouldn't have said anything," the future him sighs and glances toward him. "You're going fret about this the whole night now, aren't you?

"I don't fret," Yugi frowns a bit at that, and can't quite make up his mind on whether to it was an insult or not. From anyone else it would've been – but from _himself_, his own future self? It is strange and yet somehow wise and he doesn't know how to take it. "Do I?" he asks, a bit confused.

His elder self chuckles at that. "Oh, trust me. You never grow out of it," he assures and then stands up. "Come on. Let's see if Grandpa needs help with that food – I'm getting hungry here."

"Yeah, okay," Yugi murmurs and stands up, pausing moment to smooth out the wrinkles he had left behind on the bed sheets and then, once his older self was out of the room, to think.

Reasons for separation, good and bad ones. How, exactly, does that translate into his future self thinking he's in _hell_ at the sight of the spirit?

_'Regret can be a powerful thing, partner. And a terrible one,'_ the spirit answers his unspoken thoughts solemnly.

_'Yeah, but… that bad?'_ Yugi wonders in dismay. _'Other me… do you want to know what happened? Between him and the spirit he had, with him and his Puzzle? I'm getting the feeling that it might not be good, but…'_

That much regret. He doesn't want that to be his future – doesn't want to be left behind, regretting so much that ten years later it's still bad enough to incapacitate him. Despite how bad it might be, he wants to know – and he wants to know it _before_ it's too late to stop whatever happened to future-Yugi from happening to him, to _them_.

_'Yes. As do I,'_ the spirit answers, though uneasily. _'The problem is… knowing might be worse. And have worse consequences.'_

_'Than regretting something for ten years?'_ Yugi asks with disbelief and then bites his lip. After all, there are worse things. Like being left in the dark for thousands of years. _'Sorry, my other self, I didn't mean to… This is just bothering me.'_

_'Yes, I know,'_ the spirit answers, and Yugi can hear a smile in his thoughts. _'Go on, get something to eat. We will have time to talk about this later.'_

x

Sugoroku isn't all that surprised that he's the first one in the house awake the next morning – he usually is, unless Yugi pulls an all-nighter and doesn't sleep at all. This time the shop keeper is awake a bit earlier than usually – namely because he hadn't been sleeping quite as easy as he would've liked, his mind spinning with too many thoughts.

If he is perfectly honest about it, the future version of his grandson bothers him – quite a bit. It's not that he is not proud to see the man his grandson is going to become – the Yugi of future is obviously a strong, independent and even well-to-do man, who knows both his strengths and his limits. Yugi could become much, much worse individual, to be honest – but thankfully even with all the black clothing, leather, piercings and whatnot, he is not a bad person, neither as a teenager or as an adult.

The problem Sugoroku has is that while his younger Yugi is happy… the future one is obviously not. And judging by the slight creasing of skin around his eyes, the hints of dark shadows, he hasn't been happy in a long while. The man's smiles _never_ seem to reach his eyes. Not fully.

Sighing to himself while turning the kettle on and starting to prepare for some tea and breakfast, Sugoroku wonders about it, just as he has been doing for the whole night previous it seems. He knows what the cause it – that is painfully and maybe a bit pitifully obvious. The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, and the fact that _he had moved on_. And of that… Sugoroku has some mixed feelings.

The spirit is _dead_ after all – and more or less haunting his grandson. Sugoroku knows the importance – the prophesies, some of the past – which is part of the reason he has never said a word against it. Mainly though he never objects because Yugi is so obviously content and never seems to mind his companion. But in the same time Sugoroku's always known, in a vague, obscure sense, that it is not going to be a permanent arrangement.

He's always known that one day his grandson would be freed, and be able to continue his life alone, independent and undisturbed. And to him it has always been a good thing, a happy thought – something to, secretly, look forward to. One day his Yugi would be just and only himself again…

What he hadn't even considered is how perfectly unhappy that would make his grandson. Maybe for a while, yes, maybe for few days, weeks, couple months…

But _ten years_? And judging by the way the future version of his grandson keeps flinching when ever he's near to the Puzzle – or when ever he as much as accidentally glances at it – ten years will be just the start of it.

Sighing, Sugoroku pours the water and sits down to wait for the tea to seep, looking at the clock hanging over the kitchen door.

Possession is maybe a bit wrong, he has to admit. Haunting isn't right either, not if it is _that_ important to Yugi. Joining is maybe closer to truth. Especially when Sugoroku takes into consideration that _apparition_ he had seen, all those years ago in the tomb of the games. The spectre that had saved his life.

The spectre, who looked awfully like Yugi does now.

There is the sound of footsteps coming down the hall and Sugoroku looks up to see the future version of his grandson coming into the kitchen. "Morning, Grandpa," the man says with a yawn, while Sugoroku leans back to take him in.

The biggest difference between this man and his grandson is the way they move, Sugoroku decides. Even when half asleep, the man moves with sort of… not quite confidence, but ease that Yugi doesn't. Though the old habit of slouching his shoulders and dragging his heels is leaving Yugi – thanks to the spirit's influence, no doubt – this man moves without any hint of it. He's _sure_ in a way Yugi isn't, unconcerned and unashamed where Yugi is self-conscious and often awkward.

Which is actually kind of weird since, between the two of them, it's the elder version who is infinitely more awkward – though that might be just because almost every time Sugoroku's observed him fully, Yugi's been there – with the Puzzle, making things difficult for his elder version.

"You're up early. Did you sleep well?" Sugoroku asks instead of commenting. "There's tea, if you want some," he adds and then watches how the man goes about getting a cup.

"I slept well enough. The pillow was lumpy," the man whom his Grandson might one day turn into says and pours the tea before falling to sit across Sugoroku. "And I'm used to there being more traffic outside – it was too quiet."

"That's what you get for moving out," Sugoroku smiles, sipping his tea and then lowering the cup and folding his arms. "So, what's the plan for today?"

Future-Yugi considers it and then shrugs. "I think I'll go see Kaiba alone about the ID and stuff," he says then. "There are some things I want to talk to him about and it might take a while, no reason for you to waste your time there."

"You're going to sell the phone to him, then?" Sugoroku asks, amused.

"Maybe," the man answers with a faint smile. "It is handy to have around and I'm still a bit worried about giving him future technology, but when it comes down to it… I really could use the money to get started here," he admits.

"You're going to get your own place as soon as you can, huh?" the older man asks, frowning a bit.

"Yeah. Not that I don't like it here, it's just that… It'll be easier," the man admits with a sigh, scratching his messy hair. "Also I want to talk about how I ended up here with Kaiba. It might be no use, but if anyone can figure it out, it's him."

Sugoroku nods at that, sighing. He wishes he could help more, personally, but this goes way over his head too. And the man before him _is_ twenty seven years old. He deserves to make his own choices, regardless of how bad Sugoroku thinks they are. "What about your younger self, though?"

The future version of his grandson pauses at that, turning the tea cup in his hand as he thinks. "What about him?" he finally asks.

"Are you going to tell him what happened? If you're going to sell Kaiba your phone, you're already changing the future beyond recognition," the old man points out. "In comparison to that, how bad can telling him be?"

"Bad," future-Yugi answers, glancing up. "Don't look at me like that. I've been thinking about this for ten years, what I'd do if I get another chance – and I still don't know," he sighs. "I could make things better, sure, but… I could make it so much worse too."

"What happened, exactly?" Sugoroku demands to know. "The spirit moved on, sure, but something else must've happened too."

There is a moment of quiet before the man across him shrugs. "The way it happened was all ceremonial – a duel, actually – but later I realised it wasn't really a duel at all. The duel was just a symbol – what really happened was a choice. A decision we made together," he says finally. "Except, we didn't actually. We didn't really talk about it, not before and afterwards it was too late, so I don't really know. I didn't ask him, and he didn't tell so…"

Sugoroku frowns at that and then sighs. "You wanted him to stay, but you don't know if he did," he murmurs.

"Yeah. I just told him I'd be fine, that it was okay, because what if I asked and then… he said he _didn't_ want to stay?" future-Yugi says, sighing. "And there were things I didn't tell him – things I kept secret from him. What if I had told him? Would he have wanted to stay – or leave all the more?"

"I see," Sugoroku sighs. It almost sounds like Yugi had had a bad break up, except not with a lover but what Sugoroku now admits might just as well be _another half of him_. He almost wants to ask the man if he had been in love with the spirit… but he doesn't really need to.

Is it same for the younger Yugi? Probably, considering his reaction to the elder Yugi's lack of the Puzzle. It explains a whole lot in any case, not just about future-Yugi but about Sugoroku's actual grandson too. Why he's so comfortable spirit for one – it wasn't just past loneliness that made him cling to everyone near by so tightly. Which is good, in a way… but then again, it is also bad.

Would be bad, if they are to separate.

"Why you?" he asks instead, looking at the adult version of his grandson. "Why did it have to be you who has to go through all this – all that?"

The man grins at him – and maybe it almost reaches his eyes, but not quite. "I'm just special that way, I guess," he says and drains his tea. "Now I'm gonna take a shower and then head out, if you don't mind. Lots to do. Business and illegal ID dealings and stuff like that"

The old man gives him an unimpressed look. "You know, I'm starting to think you're bit of a coward. If you're going to stay in this time, you can't run away from him."

His elder grandson freezes half way out of the chair – and then laughs. "I can try, can't I?" he then says. "And stop being so perceptive, you're giving me the creeps."

"I'll give you more than that if you don't get your head out of your ass," Sugoroku mutters.

"Grandpa! Language!" the man gasps with mock horror.

The old man rolls his eyes and then gives him a look. "They deserve to know. Both of them. You made your choice – and it was obviously the wrong one –" he has to hold back a wince at the look that the man gives him, but pushes onwards regardless. "But theirs is still ahead of them – don't let them do your mistakes. And besides, there is something I don't think you've considered."

"And what is that?" his grandson's future self asks awkwardly.

"You didn't know if he wanted to stay or leave and you didn't dare to ask because you didn't want to hear the wrong answer," Sugoroku says, pointing a finger at him. "But what about him? What if _he_ didn't know either? And what if _he_ didn't dare to ask – not wanting to hear you say that you wanted him gone?"

Judging by the dumbstruck look that comes over the younger man's face, he really never has considered it. Sugoroku nods with satisfaction and stands up. "Think about it, Yugi," he says. "There are always two sides to every argument. Even one that is never had."

As his grandson's elder self more or less stumbles out of the kitchen, Sugoroku goes about setting some breakfast, smiling smugly all the while. He might be old and forgettable these days, but he has a lot more experience than both Yugi's combined – and he can probably include the spirit into that too. Lot of experience, maybe not with magic and soul bonding, but with love, certainly.

Hopefully that experience would help his foolish grandsons now, somehow. And if not, then… well, he has other tricks up his sleeve. And it's still rather gratifying, to be able to figure out something his grandson, the illustrious King of Games, can't.

Sugoroku is just done with the omelette when future-Yugi comes back to the kitchen, his hair sagging slightly and his face a bit red – he still takes entirely too hot showers, it seems. "Any of that for me?" the future version of Sugoroku's grandson asks hopefully while trying to put his earrings on.

"Have at it," the old man answers, motioning him to get a plate. The younger man stalls long enough to get one of his ankh earrings on before quickly going about taking a portion of the food.

"So, when are you going to head out to meet Kaiba?" the old man asks.

"I figured I'd go as soon as possible. I have a feeling that once we get to fighting over the phone, it might take a while. Best to start early and we might even finish in some sensible hour," the man answers, sitting down and then easing the other earring on as well. As he does, Sugoroku can't help but notice that he has actually more holes in his ear lobes than the ones with the ankh hoops in – three in the lower ear lobe alone, and maybe more near the top.

For all that his grandson has grown up to be a good looking man, Sugoroku has to face the fact that he's also grown into a rather… rough one. At least as far as sense of style went.

"You know," the old gamer says thoughtfully while watching him. "I've endured the hair and the leather and the belts and the rest. Piercings… I think I can handle that too – don't tell me if you have any below your ears, though, I don't want to know. But you don't have any tattoos, right?"

The younger man gives him a wide eyed look. "Tattoos? Me?" he asks with exaggerated innocence. "Why, Grandpa, I don't know what you're talking about."

xx

A thing resumed. Also the pairing is still future-Yugi x Yugi x Yami/Atemu, and variations of it. With eventual BDSM and D/s stuff. And waff. Because those go so well together.


	4. Part 4

Warnings; timetravel au. Eventual slash and BDSM and D/s stuff. Some oocness and maybe spoilers. Post Battle City. Bit of angst and weirdness.

**Hundred Moments**  
**Part 4**

"… And of course, it connects to the internet once the wireless networks get good enough, and you can use it to browse the 'net pretty much the same way as any old computer," Yuto finished his very long list of all the things the mobile phone in his possession could do. "Except, you know, anywhere where there's connection for it."

"Ah," Seto answers, turning the phone in his hands. His heart is still pounding a bit, after all the devices and uses Yuto had shown him, the very least of which were the image capturing abilities – and it could record sound and moving picture too, for god's sake!

"So. With a sales pitch like that, I think you are considering selling this to me," he says, already wondering how difficult it would be to reverse engineer it. He doesn't need all of the phone's functions in the start – hell, he'd own the market just with the picture quality of the screen alone! – but he still wants them all, every last bit of hardware and software he can squeeze out of the device.

"I'm thinking about it," Yugi admits, leaning his cheek to his ring adorned fingers, looking at him keenly – and Seto's for a moment a bit unnerved by how alike his eyes are to Mutou Yugi's, and yet how different they are. This man is _cunning_ in a way Yugi isn't and it's very strange to see it in eyes so much like Yugi's.

"So, what do you want from it?" Seto asks, pushing aside his feelings and instead calculating the phone's worth. With the functions and features… if he managed to reverse engineer them, he'd be pretty much without opposition once the remade model hit the market. He'd be the only supplier of the technology – at least for now – and in the start he could set the price pretty much where ever he wanted to.

Yuto was right – he'd make a _killing_. And if he trickles the functions to the market bit by bit, one model with one advancement instead of them all in once model… even if his rivals caught up with the first couple phones he launched and their advancements, he'd still have more functions to add to the later models.

Yuto knows that too, though. And if two billion yen isn't enough for the man, whatever he'd ask would be steep indeed. But, if Seto works the deal right… it might just be worth it.

"Money, first of all, though not as much as two billion – I wouldn't know what to do with that sort of money. Ten million maybe, or something like that," Yuto says it almost idly, though his eyes are hard. "Secondly, I want shares."

"_Excuse_ me?" Seto almost growls.

"With this thing, Kaiba Corp. is going to rule the global electronics markets for years to come. You know you're not just going to draw mobile phones out of that thing – no, there will be laptops and tablet computers and probably half a dozen gaming systems," Yuto says and Seto realises, begrudgingly, that he's probably right. "And with the advanced h-pad, your hologram systems are going to take a ten year leap ahead. That alone is worth a fortune. And I want my share of it. Literally."

"Tch," Seto grunts out but he has to admit, Yuto's not stupid. If it was him on the other end of the table, in Yuto's place, he'd probably try and weasel his share of the future glory too. "And what else?"

"I want you or some egghead of yours to look into how I ended up in this place and what should I expect. Am I stuck here? Is it even remotely possible that I might ever get back to my time?" Yuto asks and shrugs. "That sort of thing."

"Hm. Actually, I already looked into it, in sense," Seto admits, setting the mobile phone onto the table. "I have no way of finding out _how_ of course – I don't have the device responsible – but I looked into the theories people currently have on time travel. And, unless you remember any of this happening to you in your past, then you are very much stuck."

"Ah," Yuto murmurs with a sigh, and looks away. "I sort of figured that, but I want to know for sure."

"I'll have someone look into it in more detail, but in your place I wouldn't hold any hopes," Seto says coolly. "So," he murmurs thoughtfully, his eyes turning to the invaluable phone again. "Ten million and shares of Kaiba Corporation. You do know I can't in good conscience give you more than three percent or less, right?"

Yuto narrows his eyes. "What, do you think I'd really stab you in the back, and sell them to your enemies or something?" he asks and then smiles somewhat grimly. "I know what the corporation is going to become in near future. I'd be an idiot to sell. Hell, you could even think of me as a security investment of your own. Besides. You'd still be a principal shareholder, wouldn't you? Unless you gave me good fifty percent of the shares, that is."

"Tch," Seto hisses. The future idiot isn't an idiot after all – he actually knows something about how corporations are run, huh. "Five percent of common stock and no more."

"Preferred," Yuto objects.

"_Common_," Seto grows back.

"Fine. Five percent of common stock and _hundred_ million then," Yuto says and smiles at the look Seto levels at him. "Five percent of common stock is pathetically low, so yeah. Hundred million." The look on his face is almost ferocious. "I want a nest egg."

A nest egg, huh? "Tch. Seems like you've grown a backbone, _Yuto,_" Seto snorts at the man and then tilts his head a bit. "What stops me from just taking this phone and walking out of here?"

"Nothing, I guess," Yuto shrugs. "Except the fact that I am familiar with the specifics and I know your enemies. I might not have as hard a gem to offer them as the phone itself, but I can warn them of what you're going to do and give them the bones of what you have to work with. Plus," he says, smiling, "I know your security system. And industrial spying is a bitch."

Seto has to laugh at that – it sounds so absurd coming from a version of _Mutou Yugi_ of all people. And yet this man isn't Mutou Yugi, not quite, and it seems he really knows what he's talking about. Back bone indeed. "Fine. You'll get your price," he says. All things considered, it's still pathetically low when compared to the sheer value of the phone itself. "You've changed from the Yugi I know."

"Hm. Time does that. And close association with _you_ probably didn't help," Yuto says, smiling faintly and then straightening a bit in his chair. "Now, when can I expect my money? I have a savings account to start, car to buy, flat to hunt down, and so on."

Seto rolls his eyes and reaches for his table phone, hitting his secretary's line and then ordering the woman get the paper work for the purchase and to have the money delivered. He'd swing the purchase as buying an invention from an inventor and then cover it up as company secret and no one would think of it twice.

"Where are you thinking of setting shop, then?" Seto asks once the calls have been made.

"Near city centre again, if I can manage. I got used to the traffic, so it's a bit too quiet for me in the outskirts, like where Grandpa lives," Yuto answers, rising to his feet with a fluent motion and walking to the window, to look down. From where they are, in the fourteenth floor of the Kaiba Corp. head quarters, the city centre is no doubt easily visible. "I used to live just in the corner of the main and fourth," Yuto says. "It was a damn good flat, too. Hell, maybe this time I'll see if I can buy it, rather than just renting it."

Seto nods idly, turning on his swivel chair to watch the man. Yuto is not the tallest or most impressive of men, but there is a way about him, the way he stands and moves, that makes it hard not to watch him. "And then what?" he asks.

Yugi glances at him. "How do you mean?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

"You're getting back to the game development, I suppose?"

"Yeah, eventually. I'm going to try and settle in first," Yuto answers, looking outside again. "And yeah, I'll pitch whatever I'm willing to sell to you in case there might be something there you like. But shouldn't you be busy with the phone?"

"My corporation has various branches, _Yuto_. Just because one side might be working with the phone doesn't mean that it takes all the attention of the whole," the billionaire answers, unimpressed as he reaches for the phone again, turning the screen on from the power safe mode and then idly flicking through the interchangeable desktops.

"Maybe not," Yuto says, shrugging. "There is lot of things to do first, though, so don't expect anything too soon."

"I won't," Seto answers and then frowns. "Where are all the pictures?" he then asks, flicking through the folder. He is pretty sure that the last time Yuto had let him handle the phone, there had been hundreds of them. Now there are only about thirty – all of them from the science expo. And there are _no_ video files at all.

"Oh, I took out the personal stuff. Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted to see most of it," Yuto grins.

"How did you take it out?" Seto asks with suspicion. "You said that you don't have any of the cables for this thing."

"It has Bluetooth, you know. A bit more powerful than anything currently on the market and it took me good two hours in the electronics store to find anything even remotely compatible, but I managed it," Yuto answers, digging out a security locker key out of his pocket and jangling in his finger. "The data's safely tucked away on the suckiest laptop I ever spent all my money on, and the laptop is safely tucked away in a locker at a near by mall."

"I see," Seto murmurs, looking at the phone again. Well, Yuto's probably right – he has no interest in seeing the man's personal home movies. Especially considering the man's choice in outfits.

"By the way," Yuto says. "You can probably hack anything with Bluetooth without even trying, with that phone. Bluetooth security sucks in this time."

"I'll keep that in mind," the billionaire snorts and the hides the phone away in his pocket, as the secretary comes in with the paperwork for him and Yuto to sign – which they do quickly enough, ignoring the secretary's curious glances towards Yuto after the price of the unspecified sale has been penned in.

"So. What else do you know about the future that I might be interested in knowing?" Seto asks once the secretary has left, with orders to copy the contract in triplicate.

"Hm… Sadly I was never _that_ into the business thing so I don't have anything useful for you about the stock market – except that that a bubble is going to burst in two thousand, I think it was in March," Yuto says. "Wasn't really paying at the time, but you cursed up a storm for two months afterwards."

Seto narrows his eyes. Bubble? But there wasn't – oh. _Damn_. He needs to schedule a meeting with his stockbrokers and quickly too. "Anything else?" he asks, frowning.

Yuto shrugs. "Nothing I remember, not in the near future anyway. On more personal level, though: you might, if you're lucky, meet her in summer two-thousand and five, though this time try and not be asshole to her from get-go," he says, pointing a finger at Seto. "Because seriously, she'll be one of the best things that will ever happen to you and your bachelor party was _epic_."

Seto nearly chokes. "_What_?!"

Yuto's still laughing and still not saying anything more when, about half an hour later, Seto's secretary comes in bearing a metal suitcase with a key code lock, carrying the hundred million Yuto had bargained out of him.

"Sweet, I've always wanted one of these," the man grins at the case, rapping his knuckles against the metallic surface. "Did you know, at some point someone actually markets these things as excellent self defence weapons?"

"I don't care – and you are such a goddamn _cock tease_, Yuto," Seto growls, annoyed and anxious and maybe a bit creeped out – because, well, two thousand and five is long way ahead but… bachelor party? Did those usually go hand in hand with weddings? Oh _god_.

Sadly, while the words would've sent Yugi into embarrassed hysterics, Yuto doesn't seem in the least effected by the insult. "Yeah, I know; it's one of my finest skills," the man grins, while taking the suitcase and casually lifting up so that he's hanging it at his back, over his shoulder. "Well, Kaiba, it was a pleasure doing business with you. Have fun reverse engineering and try not to overload the poor thing when you try recharging it."

"Just get out already," Seto groans, running a hand over his face. Maybe he _wouldn't_ look into Yuto's game making skills after all. He isn't sure if it would be worth the headaches.

x

It's silly how something like a plastic card can take so much weight off from your shoulders.

Flipping the credit card idly in his fingers, Yugi smiles faintly to himself. He had very nearly given the poor clerk at the bank a heart attack when he had walked in with hundred million in a suitcase – and then the bank had of course ran a back ground check _and_ insisted calling Kaiba Seto himself just to make sure that Yugi wasn't a bank robber or something. But now he has what he needs to…

Well, do whatever he wants to, actually. Not just the money, but the IDs too – and they're damn foolproof too if the bank couldn't find anything wrong with them. IDs, driver's licence, medical records, three bank accounts – stupid persuasive bank people had assured him that investment account would be a good idea…

At this point he doesn't need to even return to his grandfather's game store at all – he could just get a room in a hotel, then start looking for a flat, stop by some place that sold cars to get himself a way to get around… maybe re-make his wardrobe while he was at it. And other things.

Sighing, Yugi stops in the middle of the road, flipping the credit card so that he can see his fake name on it. Minamoto Yuto. Kaiba had kept calling him that, and it hadn't sounded so bad. Breaking free with it would be so easy. Hell, he could even leave Domino all together, just leave all the confusion and heartbreak behind himself, never think of it twice, but…

_ "What if he didn't know either? And what if he didn't dare to ask – not wanting to hear you say that you wanted him gone?"_

What if indeed. The more he thinks about those words, the more they bother him and the more he begins to doubt himself. Because… what had he really been doing, back all those years ago, after Atemu had regained himself and his memories, when the Ceremonial Duel had begun to loom ahead of them? What had he done? And not just done, but what had he _said_?

You don't need to hold back for my sake, I have other friends, I am fine, you can go on, I don't mind…

"Damn it," Yugi mutters to himself, glaring at the words, Minamoto Yuto, before taking out his wallet and practically shoving the card among the other new ones, between his drivers licence and health insurance card.

Had he somehow, inadvertently, told Atemu to go? And what if he had? Was it really his fault?

Atemu had looked forward to going, Yugi knows that much. All those he had known and loved in his previous life had been there, on the other side, waiting for him – and then there were the memories too. Not just those from thousand years ago, but from _during_ the thousand years between. He had seemed so tired that Yugi hadn't dared to say anything, hadn't wanted to be selfish…

Now he wonders, hating himself for it. Maybe it had been just momentary – Atemu had just remembered who he was, that was enough to exhaust anyone. Maybe, if they had just given it some time instead of instantly rushing to Egypt…

But then again, maybe that wouldn't have meant anything. Maybe Atemu really had wanted nothing but to go – and maybe asking him really would've been selfish. Maybe telling him… would've really made him just want to go _more_.

His mind spinning from one horrible thought to another, Yugi backtracks back to the mall where he had bought the crappy laptop to house his phone's data, and after fetching the laptop bag from the storage closet, he heads back out – and eventually, towards the game shop. Grandpa wouldn't like it if he just up and vanished, he reasons with himself. And maybe… he has some things to settle, with his younger self.

The game shop is open for business when he makes there, with Grandpa rearranging some merchandise – Duel Monsters merchandise mostly – near the front. "You're back sooner than I expected," the old man says at the sight of him.

"Kaiba was surprisingly reasonable," Yugi shrugs. Or maybe it was the fact that really, he hadn't asked _that_ much of the phone and Kaiba had really wanted it. It's pretty easy get people to do things for you when you have something they really want.

"So?" Grandpa asks, giving him a look glancing down at the laptop bag.

"So, you now know a millionaire," Yugi answers with a grin. "Also I bought a laptop," he adds with a shrug.

"Not a billionaire? What restraint – or did young Kaiba swindle the phone half free from you?" Sugoroku asks in mock astonishment.

"Well, I might also be a common shareholder of his corporation now," Yugi says with a shrug. "But never mind that. Is there any food?"

"Twenty-seven and you're still the same," his grandfather sighs with eye roll. "There ought to be something in the fridge, to try and not eat me into bankruptcy. You might even leave a bit of a tip behind, considering that you seem to be the most successful breadwinner of the family, all of sudden."

"Love you too, Gramps," Yugi grins and hurries up stairs, easing his boots off and leaving them behind as he heads to the kitchen which – to his slight relief – is empty. Setting the laptop bag leaning against the wall, he goes about getting himself a sandwich before snatching the morning's paper from the counter and going to sit down, to leaf through the pages to advertisements section, to find if there were any flats for sale or rent.

Though, now that he's not so sure about his past, and what Atemu really might've wanted or thought… is it really the wisest thing to leave so quickly? Chewing on his sandwich thoughtfully he considers the implications of _really_ changing the future.

Giving Kaiba the tech doesn't really count because, well, that's technology and doesn't really affect him or past-Yugi on personal level – which, he admits fully, is one hell of a self-important thought but true nonetheless. But telling his past self what happened to him, what will most likely happen to the kid…

God, a kid. That was what he had been, wasn't it? And hell, it isn't like Atemu had been that much older. How old had Atemu been when he died anyway? Something like eighteen? The hell had they known about life – or people – at that point. Not enough, that is for sure. They hadn't known enough about each other either – and, when Yugi looks at it from something like objective standpoint… maybe they had _cared_ too much.

At least Yugi had. He had wanted not to be selfish so bad that he had been rather aggressively selfless – something he knows he's now grown out of, mostly. Seeing the Puzzle is bringing it back like a flashback, but it feels off and awkward now, like being wrapped in belts way too tight, with that old choker around his neck, constricting him. It's not the way he is anymore.

If it was him, in past-Yugi's boots, and if he knew… could he really be selfless and _not_ ask? As painful as rejection could be, as horrible as it would be to know that Atemu didn't want him, could he _really_ keep meekly quiet?

Hell no.

And really… it isn't his choice anyway. It's his past self's choice. The hell is he doing anyway, keeping things from _himself_?

Snorting to himself, Yugi leans his chin on his knuckles. It's always lovely to see Kaiba – things somehow fall into perspective after a nice verbal sparring match with his rival. Even if _this_ Kaiba wasn't _his_ Kaiba, it was so easy to fall into the old, familiar dynamic – and it's somehow always better than anything else at clearing Yugi's mind. Maybe because Kaiba is, there and here, wrapped in this aura of brutal rationalism.

And it isn't rational to be an idiot. Which, Yugi has to admit, he's so far been. A huge ass idiot, complete moron with, as Grandpa had said, his head up in his ass.

But still. He needs his own flat. If not for his own peace of mind, then for peace of his sleeping habits. Seriously, the quiet had been unnerving him all night – not to mention the fact that living under Grandpa's watchful eyes would make his living… awkward.

He's gone back to eying the ads for free flats, when his past self wanders into the room. "You're back," the younger version of him says, a bit hesitant. "Um. How did it go with Kaiba?"

"It went fine," Yugi assures and, after a knee jerk reaction and the instinct to look away, forces his eyes back to his younger self. Yep, the Puzzle is there, plainly obvious and impossible to miss, in its chain around his past self's neck. Yugi has almost forgotten how _big_ the thing was – though maybe it's just that his past self is so small.

For the first time, he wonders what the material it's made of actually is. What do you call a substance made from people's bodies and souls? Not gold, definitely, even if it gleams like it.

"Um…?" his past self asks confusedly as his hand comes up to cradle the inverted pyramid.

Yugi smiles. Now that he's not avoiding glimpses of the Puzzle, it doesn't look _that_ bad actually. It still twists him somewhere in his chest – feels a bit like being stabbed or electrocuted, really – but… it's not that bad.

"I'm looking for flats. What do you think, ofuro or no?" he says it more to break the odd tension that's come over his younger self.

His younger self blinks and then his eyes widen. "Flats? You're going to…?"

"Well, I can't stay here. It's a bit weird," Yugi shrugs. "I've gotten used to living by myself, and I kind of want my personal space back."

"But…" his younger self bites his lower lip, looking conflicted and uneasy. "You should stay here – with… with us," he says, looking down.

Yugi frowns a bit at that, looking at the teen. "It's nothing personal," he says after a moment. "But I really haven't lived with anyone in a long while and I don't think I'd know how to start now."

"You could learn?" his younger self suggests and then sighs, falling to sit on the seat across Yugi. "So are you a billionaire now?" he asks with a pout.

Yugi eyes him with disbelief. Yeah, the teen is actually pouting. "Just a millionaire," he says, shifting back a bit. Good _god_, his past self's eyes are huge. "And stop that," he says quickly.

"Stop what?" past-Yugi asks, blinking – almost fluttering his eyelashes.

"That look – stop it!" Yugi says, looking away quickly, not sure if he ought to burst out laughing or run away. Had he really looked like that? He sure as hell couldn't pull that look off anymore, but _geez_. Puppies had nothing on his past self.

"What look?" his past self asks, utterly baffled, and helplessly Yugi starts to laugh – only managing to make his younger self pout harder. "What is it?" the teen asks, half out of frustration and anger. "Stop laughing!"

"I can't help it – you look like a freaking kitten!" Yugi gasps out between laughs, wiping his eyes. "You could register that look as device for mind control. Use it on Kaiba sometime; secretly he's really weak against looks like that."

"K-kitten?" his past self asks in objection. "_Kitten_?!"

"The cutest little kitty who ever lived," Yugi answers and then quickly ducks down as his past self grabs one of the four placemats from the table, chucking it at him. "Okay, okay," he quickly says, leaning as far back as he can. "I'm sorry! But you can't really blame me – you were pouting at me!"

His past self harrumphs, waving the second placemat at him threateningly while Yugi quickly leans down to get the one that had fallen to the floor. "Call me kitty again and I won't be responsible for my actions," the teen mutters, while Yugi – still chuckling a bit – puts the placemat back in its place.

"Something to remember later on, then," Yugi answers and then holds his hands up in surrender when his past self makes to grab another projectile. "Peace, already!"

The teen narrows his eyes, but puts the placemat down. "Do you really have to move out?" past-Yugi asks then. "There is enough space, isn't there?"

_'Not for my hobbies, there isn't,'_ Yugi muses and shakes his head. "I don't have to – I _want_ to. And it's not the matter of space… well, it is a bit," he admits. "I like having my own space. As much as I love Grandpa, this is his house, and it runs on his rules. And I have my own set of house rules, these days."

"Fine," the teen mutters, and looks dangerously like he's about to start pouting again.

"Listen, it doesn't mean I won't be around. And you can come visit, once I have the place," Yugi says quickly, to avoid another laugh attack. "And I'll be dropping by here, of course."

His past self looks up to him and then down, to the Puzzle. "Is it because…?" he trails away, frowning.

"No, it isn't," Yugi says, a bit awkward now – he had been acting like an ass before. How to repair that…? "Is he listening in?" he asks, considering his options, wondering. If Atemu took control now, could he talk to him with a straight face, without breaking down?

Past-Yugi nods, oddly meek.

"It's okay," Yugi says, wincing a bit guiltily and then, in fit of madness, decides to reach over. "I'm sorry if I've been awkward, I didn't mean to put you two off –"

Wave of vertigo hits him the moment his fingertips touch the Puzzle, and he can see the Millennium Item lighting up in magical glow – just as darkness starts eating at the edges of his vision. The last thing he hears is past-Yugi's gasp, before the table's surface suddenly comes up and everything goes dark.

x

The spirit of the Puzzle very nearly loses his footing in the vast expanse that is the so called entrance hall of his soul. Around him, the maze of the Puzzle is in throes of what almost looks earthquake – except that is impossible, the Puzzle is never affected by anything like that. Only thing that comes close is when some of the Puzzle's strange defences are triggered or a trap is sprung, but this… nothing this strong.

"Yugi!" the spirit cries out, at the sudden flood of panic coming from his partner – and then a wave of dizziness hits him, making him crash to his knees on the stone floor. Groaning he grabs a hold of his head, feeling like something in him is ripping apart, like he needs to physically hold himself intact and then –

Something shifts with a great groan, but it doesn't come from the maze, but outside it. Through the waves of confusion and dizziness, the spirit looks up and his eyes widen in horror as he realises that the sound and the quaking is coming from _outside_ his soul – from the corridor, from, _his partner's_ soul.

"My other self," he gasps and struggles to his knees, stumbling over the ancient stones and nearly crashing into the metal door and then through it, to the corridor – except…

It's not a corridor anymore. No, it's a room – a triangular room with a dark floor and no ceiling, with three walls, all of them different – and _three doors_. Two of them the spirit knows. There is his own door, at which he stands – dark metal, covered in fractures like veins and adorned with the Eye of Horus. Then there is the door to his partner's soul room, wood painted light blue – thrown wide open like always, and so very familiar. But then… there is the third door.

It's wood, like his partner's – but painted completely blood red. It is also firmly shut.

"Partner!" the spirit calls, uneasy with the sudden silence, and for a moment he fears – what if there is no answer? Something's different, so very different. What if he's somehow cut off from his partner, what is this third door would change their dynamics, what if –

"I'm here!" Yugi's voice comes through the open, light blue door and then his partner rushes out, eyes wide and alert – maybe a bit scared – but he's there and he's alright, and it takes the spirit all his restraint not to gather his partner in his arms and hide him away somewhere where he'd be safe and sound.

"Are you alright, my other… self…" Yugi trails away, stopping as he sees the triangular new shape of what had before been a corridor – and the third door. "Oh my god," the spirit's partner whispers, his eyes widening. "What –"

Before he can finish whatever he is about to say, the third door opens – and Yugi's future self steps out, his posture a bit stiff and his eyes narrowed with consternation. His eyes widen a bit at the sight of Yugi and the spirit, but – for the first time – he doesn't look away. "Yeah," the man says, awkward and uneasy. "That was not the smartest idea I ever had."

"What did you do?" the spirit asks, horrified and fascinated all at once.

"I touched the Puzzle," the man says, glancing back at his own soul room and then firmly closing the deeply red door behind him, leaning against it. "I really should have known better."

"What… but…" the younger Yugi. "How?" he asks, confused. "Other people have touched the Puzzle but this has never happened before!"

"Well, none of those people solved the Puzzle themselves, now did they?" his elder version asks with an awkward shrug. "I did, though, so of course it was going to react to me."

"Of course," the spirit murmurs. "You, like Yugi of this time, are the master of the Puzzle. The chosen one. The Puzzle senses that, and so it made… room for you," he trails away with a frown, looking thoughtfully at the elder Yugi who shrugs, looking down at the dark floor between them – but he doesn't seem anywhere near as uneasy as before.

"I-is this permanent?" the younger Yugi asks, looking up to the spirit.

"Probably not. Well, the change might be permanent, but once I cut the physical connection with the Puzzle, my door will probably vanish," the elder Yugi says, looking over his shoulder at the red door of his soul and grimacing.

"Oh," Yugi murmurs, looking at him and then up to the spirit, who is still eying the elder Yugi.

Though he's seen the man before, through Yugi's eyes and in his ghostly form, this time is different – because in one's soul, there is more to see than just what meets the eye. There is a certain aura that is surrounding all of them – Yugi is, as always, surrounded by gentle glow of his kindness and gentleness. The spirit himself knows his aura doesn't show – it's too dark and is only visible in the pure light of Yugi's soul room. But the elder Yugi…

His aura is as red as the door to his soul room.

"So, uh…" the younger Yugi is the one to break the silence. "Now what?" he asks and then perks up a bit. "Can we see your soul room?" he asks his elder self.

There is a sound like rope snapping taunt, and suddenly the elder Yugi's door is covered in belts and chains, all without buckles or locks. The change is so sudden and so immediate that the spirit at first thinks that it's completely unintentional, instinctive in the same way as Yugi's open door is for him – but the look on the elder man's face disproves that.

"No, I don't think so," future-Yugi says, folding his arms as he leans against the restraints over his soul room. "There are things there you don't need to see. And things you shouldn't."

"Like what?" Yugi asks a bit plaintively.

"Ten years of active social life, for one," the man says with a faint smile and then looks up from Yugi – to the spirit, who very nearly takes a step back as he, for the first time, finds himself holding an eye contact with the man. "And some things about _you_, which isn't that safe to reveal just yet."

"What?" the spirit asks, startled. Then he realises. "You know my past. You know – "

"It's not the past that's the problem. It's your name," the future version of his partner says.

"My name?" the spirit asks, his eyes widening. "You know my _name_?!"

The man hesitates, a complicated mixture of a smile and grimace on his face before he sighs and shakes his head. "Of course I know your name. I was there when you regained your memories – or a version of you did, anyway," he says and then lifts a hand before the spirit can ask. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?!" the younger Yugi demands to know.

"Because that name is the seal holding something back," the elder Yugi says and sighs again. "This is all sorts of wrong and I shouldn't be telling it like this, in wrong order, but… There is a _reason_ why your soul remains in the Puzzle," he says, aiming the words at the spirit who shivers a bit under his stare. "And there is a reason why you don't remember. Your name – it is the most powerful bit of magic this world has ever experienced, and your memories are the safe in which it's held."

"But…"

Future-Yugi shakes his head. "If I told you, it would unleash… things," he says, making a vague motion with his hands. "Things which you can't fight, without your memories. These things have to happen in the right order. So I can't tell you."

The spirit swallows, looking at the younger Yugi who is looking back at him. They had both known that there was something very special about his memories, but his _name_ too? Or maybe especially his name. "This something. What is it?" he asks with a frown.

"Something bad," future-Yugi says. "I can't say the name. Saying the names of _bad_ things in this place, it being so close to the Puzzle's power isn't… safe."

"No. No it isn't," the spirit murmurs, frowning and then looks up. "You're… not uneasy with me anymore."

"Oh, you have no idea. It's taking every ounce of my concentration not to run for the hills right now," the elder Yugi sighs, rolling his eyes. "But Grandpa gave me something to think about and I've decided to stop being a coward about this."

The spirit frowns at that, eying the man. "Does that mean that you're willing to tell us what has been bothering you?" he asks, maybe a bit more cuttingly than he means to. As much as he wants to know his past, his name, the treatment he has been getting – the treatment his poor partner has been enduring – is a more immediate problem. Even now the man admits that it's hard to be here – and even now his eyes, although steady, are filled with silent hurt.

It is frustrating and the spirit is getting tired of being scared of the future, of things that haven't happened yet.

The man doesn't answer, though; he just frowns at the floor and avoids his eye. "My other self," the present-Yugi murmurs, but the spirit has had enough. Future-Yugi has decided to stop being a coward, good, because the spirit has decided to stop being soft about this.

"We have the right to know what will happen!" he snaps at the man, taking a step closer. Future-Yugi is taller than him and even in the soul room where size is somewhat relative he only reaches the man's chin, but the spirit would be damned if that would stop him from grabbing the man by the collar of his shirt and shaking the words out of him. "What will happen to us? What happened to you? Tell us!"

"I'm still not sure if it's the safest thing to –" the man starts to object and the spirit, sick of that excuse, takes hold of the front of his shirt and pushes him against the door.

"We have the right to know!" he yells at the man, ignoring the present-Yugi's cautious touch at his shoulder. "Tell us! You have to!"

The man looks surprised at first – not by the words, but the proximity, or maybe the way the spirit had pushed him. Then something changes about the man and the awkwardness _evaporates_. Suddenly the man's eyes are hard. "I… _have_ to?" he asks softly, his voice very low.

"Yes," the spirit hisses back and slams him against the door again, shaking the younger Yugi's insistent touch from his shoulder. "As one belonging to the Puzzle, even this space is my dominion and I am not letting you out of here before you tell us the truth –"

The man in his grasp moves then, one hand coming up and grabbing the hand holding his shirt, twisting it painfully and forcing the spirit to release him. Before the spirit of the Puzzle can even think of trying to stop him, the man has somehow shifting from the door and twisted the spirit's hand behind his back – and then it's the spirit against the door, his face very nearly slammed into the belts and chains holding the blood red door shut.

"I have to tell you, _do I_?" the future version of the spirit's partner speaks low and threatening over the present-Yugi's horrified gasp. "Fine. I'll tell you what happened. _You left_."

"What?" the spirit grunts out and then winces as his hand is wrenched so that his wrist is against the middle of his back.

"You left, you moved on, you went to the afterlife," future-Yugi very nearly growls and then, enforcing each word with a painful twist of his hand, he continues, "And. You. Left. Me. _Behind_."

"Stop it!" it's the present Yugi this time, and the spirit can feel his presence there, close – at future-Yugi's back, pulling at him. "You're hurting him! Stop it!"

The spirit is released as suddenly and violently as he had been captured, and only by grabbing a hasty hold of the belts in front of him he keeps himself on his feet. His wrist is hurting and he can't help but clench the belts tightly and for a moment he very nearly doesn't dare to look behind him, to the two Yugis.

When he does, future-Yugi is not looking at him at all – instead the man is glaring cold fury at the door to the spirit's soul room – at the Eye of Horus that stares back, unforgiving.

"When you get your memories back," the man says, his voice still low and somehow powerful, the bloody aura around him pulsing with fury. "And all is said and done, there will be a ceremony to decide your fate. Two choices. One: you stay in this world and with your… partner. Or two: you move on to join those you knew in your life thousands years back."

"I… I chose to go?" the spirit whispers, first staring at the stiff line of the man's neck and then turning his horrified eyes to _his_ Yugi, who is staring back with equal horror. "Why would I –?"

Future-Yugi lets out an angry, strangled noise and then suddenly vanishes in curl of dark red mist, withdrawing from the connection of souls. Before neither Yugi nor the spirit can react, the third door in their soul's connection is torn away as, in the outside world, future-Yugi breaks the physical connection he has with the Puzzle.

"My… my other self," the younger – the only – Yugi whispers as the spirit, with no belts or door to take support from, slides to the floor.

"Partner," the spirit whispers, his hands shaking a bit as he looks over his shoulder at the one who's body he shares, who's soul he knows as well as he knows his own. "_Partner_," he says again, his voice oddly feeble and completely inadequate to express what he needs to be saying, conveying – that he would never, that he doesn't want to, that he can't –

But Yugi knows anyway, because suddenly he's there, at the spirit's back, throwing his arms tightly around him. As the spirit draws a shuddering breath, future-Yugi's words still echoing in his ears like some sort of death knell, his partner hugs him tightly, holding him together.

xx

AN; for those uniformed, BDSM means bondage and discipline (B&D or B/D), dominance and submission (D&S or D/s), and sadomasochism or sadism and masochism (S&M or S/M). In this case it's going to be about the bondage and dominance and submission, with very little sadomasochism involved. The fic is marked M for a reason, although the explicit parts won't be posted here.

Also the pairing is still future-Yugi x Yugi x Yami/Atemu, and variations of it. But there is gonna be other stuff on the side, but only a little bit.


End file.
